Young woman eager to make a difference
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Gabrielle Cotton, a graduate of Brantford Collegiate Institute, will be participating in Daughters of the Vote in Ottawa beginning March 30
The 21-year-old is one of two young women with Brantford roots who will be participating in the leadership program launched by Equal Voice Canada to encourage more women to enter politics. Also taking part is Madeline Brown, 20, also a BCI graduate, who now studies at the University of Ottawa.
They will be among 338 women, aged 18 to 23, from across Canada, one from each federal riding. Each participant will take a seat in the House of Commons. Brown will be occupying the seat of Brantford-Brant MP Phil McColeman, while Cotton will take the seat of Ali Ehsassi, the MP for Willowdale, where she lives.
“I’m really excited,” said Cotton, who will graduate from the University of Toronto this spring. “It’s a great learning opportunity and I’ll be able to meet a lot of women who are interested in making a difference and being involved in politics.
Daughters of the Vote, which runs until April 5, coincides with the anniversary of Indigenous women obtaining the right to vote on March 30, 1960.
Cotton and Brown will get to meet federal party politicians, as well as attend an Indigenous forum, policy development workshops and leadership training sessions.
Cotton became interested in politics when her father – retired Brantford police officer Brad Cotton – suggested she meet then city councillor Marguerite Ceschi-Smith.
“He just wanted me to meet her and I’m really glad that I did,” Cotton recalled. “We talked about politics and how there was a need for more women to get involved.
“I was really inspired by her and started to take an interest.”
A longtime councillor who represented Ward 5, Ceschi-Smith was added to the Wall of Recognition outside the city council chambers in October. She now lives in Vancouver.
Following her meeting with Ceschi-Smith, Cotton, who was in high school at the time, organized a Women In Politics conference, which brought together several women who have been in politics at the local, provincial and national levels.
After graduating from university, Cotton will be working full-time as the sponsorship and events co-ordinator at Toronto’s Second Harvest, which recovers unsold food before it becomes waste and distributes it to social service agencies.
She said she one day wants to run for political office.
“I really believe that if you want to bring about change, if you want to be able to influence policy, then you have to be involved in politics,” Cotton said. “My goal has and always will be to help people and, if elected, my first priority would be to improve housing.”
She said she believes that helping people improve their lives begins with providing them stable living conditions.
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