Osgoode Visiting Professor Jamil Jivani and his Community Organizing and the Law class stepped up their efforts to get more people in the Jane and Finch community to vote in the Oct. 19 federal election.
“The next several days will be crazy with following up with voters,” Jivani said prior to voting day when describing the final push he and the students – participants in a non-partisan voter mobilization group Jivani created called Jane and Finch Votes – intended to make.
The Jane and Finch neighbourhood had the GTA’s lowest voter turnout in the last federal election, and Jivani’s group worked hard knocking on doors to get more people to vote in this election. Their goal was to get 800 people to sign a pledge promising to vote.
A number of pledges were signed on Oct. 8 when 100 to 150 people showed up at Westview Centennial Secondary School at 4pm to hear Jivani talk about the importance of exercising their right to vote. Later, free Thanksgiving turkeys were given out to all those who had pledged to vote.
Jivani’s group then distributed the remaining turkeys to nearby community centres.