21-year-old elected to Maple Ridge school board, hopes to be voice for young people

While there was no shortage of notable election results across the province Saturday, one vote saw a young man in Maple Ridge get a good start to his political career.

Gabe Liosis, 21, has been elected to fill one of the five seats on the school district 42 board of trustees for Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows.

“I graduated from Maple Ridge Secondary in 2019, that was only three-and-a-half years ago,” Liosis told CityNews. “I still feel really connected with some of the issues I experienced and some of my peers experienced while in the public school system.”

It is with immense excitement and gratitude that I announce the Election Day results, which reveals that I have won a seat on the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School Board. pic.twitter.com/VEOoX4i0Qr

— Gabriel Liosis (@gabeliosis) October 16, 2022

Liosis’ foray into politics follows heavy involvement during his schooling career. He was active in student council throuhgout high school from grade nine to 12.

And the 21-year-old is still in school, attending Simon Fraser University where he is in his fourth year studying political science. While there, he has served on the school’s student union for two years, and served as president for 10 months.

Liosis says while he has always been involved in politics at school, he felt like his voice wasn’t being heard.

“For a school district that claims to prioritize student voice, it was disheartening at times to not feel as if my voice was being valued. Kind of just getting a pat on the back like ‘good on you for doing this work’ and not getting any action on it,” he said.

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Now that he’s been elected, Liosis says he wants to take action on mental health and help young people access support.

“We do have a lot of mental health supports in the city of Maple Ridge, but not accessible to youth,” he explained. “Having those services in schools is really critical, I think, in addressing this mental health crisis.”

Liosis is now among the youngest people to ever be elected to a municipal position. In 2009, the City of Kelowna elected 19-year-old Kevin Craig to council during a by-election. In Saanich, Ned Taylor was elected to council at 19 years old but did not seek reelection this year.

With files from Kareem Gouda.