It was a rare opportunity, meeting Premier Wab Kinew, and Aqeelah Daibu was determined to make the most of it.
The grade 11 student at Morden Collegiate Institute was one of three rural youth council members invited to the Manitoba Legislature to meet the Premier and get a better understanding of government and ask questions. She says it was an honour to get the invite for the visit, which included a tour of the Legislature and the chance to sit in the Premier's chair!
"I had the opportunity to directly ask him questions I had about youth leadership, community involvement and how young people like me can actively shape their future," explained Daibu.
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The questions she had for the Premier included how Manitoba is supporting youth leadership and what advice he had for someone like herself who is ready to lead change. On top of being the youth rep on Morden City Council, Daibu is also President of her school's Youth in Philanthropy group and is actively involved the local Junior Achievers Team.
"His response was showing up. Like, growing, learning and meeting up with the right people. Showing up was the key thing he mentioned," noted Daibu, adding it was an overall insightful experience.
Reflecting on the experience, Daibu says there is one key thing she took away from her conversation with Premier Kinew. That is, that positions of leadership are just titles that give you power but are useless if you don't know how to use that power to help people.
"Yeah, he's the Premier, absolutely. That doesn't take away the fact that he's also a human being. The compassion, the courage, those qualities are still there even if you have a major position where you find yourself in," explained Daibu. "Even if you don't have something that big (like the Premiership), whatever you have, if you can use it to impact people and to help people as much as you can, then you are doing more than someone who has a position but is not doing anything with it."
Leading change
Daibu also had this advice for her fellow youth who are also prepared to lead change. As a young person who has only lived in Canada for two years, she is inspiring others to dream big.
"Being a new immigrant, coming to Canada, to a new place, I've been able to find my bearings with the support of my parents, my family and also the City of Morden, Manitoba in general, is the land that supports youth so why not take advantage of that? Just keep showing up. Keeping doing what you do (and) speaking for what you know."
"You have the knowledge. You have the people. You're in the right environment, so just use what you have to get what you want," she added. "There is no greater joy than helping others and making an impact on people, making sure everyone who comes your way takes away something from you."
'It was a great day'
Daibu was accompanied on the visit by Morden Mayor, Nancy Penner, where they met up with Sharilyn Knox, mayor for Portage la Prairie, and that city's two youth councilors. In fact, Penner says Knox is the one who got the ball rolling on this day.
"She was very keen on connecting the youth councilors. At the spring conference with AMM, we also had sort of a Power of the Purse-style women in leadership roles luncheon," explained Penner. "A couple of the youth councilors were invited to that and I brought Aqeelah in for that. This was just another follow-up opportunity to connect youth councilors."
"I think Aqeelah was very impressed and very appreciative of the whole afternoon in Winnipeg. It was a great day," added Penner.
With files from Robyn Wiebe