Jack Henry
“I’m the only one to get the job done. I don't know a (person) who can cover for me.” These are words from Lil’Wayne and Drakes “Believe Me” that Joseph Khargie truly believes about becoming the TDSB’s Ward 22 Trustee. I recently sat down with Joseph to discuss all things Guildwood and all things in TDSB Ward 22. The first thing that I noticed about Joseph when I was listening to him speak was his passion for what he was saying, his eyes lit up and you could tell that he was genuinely interested in what he was saying!
“Innovative, Futuristic & Empathetic Education”
Joseph is a 26 year-old who has worked with youth for 10 years, the last 7 of which were working with The 4Life Foundation (4LF) as a Program Director. Growing up in west-Scarborough, Joseph had a lot of negative energy; he didn't feel engaged in the material he was learning in school. At the age 14 Joseph was invited by a friend to join an urban dance group. The dance group gave him an outlet for his negative energy and he even rose up to lead his own group with another set of youth. In 2007 Joseph joined the 4LF team as Program Director and has since piloted many projects including See Me Affect, previously known as the Music and Memory Project which helps seniors with dementia and connects youth and seniors. The pilot location for this project was in Guildwood’s own Extendicare residence.
I asked Joseph a series of questions about his view on the role of trustee and on the issues in Ward 22 and Guildwood. In my past two meetings with council candidates Paul Ainslie and Jason Colterman I was able to quickly identify the main issues in the community when it comes to that position. When I thought about the role of trustee and what problems are in our community when it comes to the role, I could not think of one issue so I am asking all the Trustee candidates what they think the issues are. Joseph's response was "Intergenerational Connections" or rather lack thereof. Joseph says that it is important to have our youth connect with seniors "...as our senior population will double in the next 10 years alone" and Joseph wants to make sure that youth are able to meet the needs of the community. Joseph says "I have been connecting youth with seniors through 4Life Foundation programming. Youth are playing music for seniors with dementia and running bingo nights in (Guildwood) Chartwell and (Guildwood) Extendicare."
Guildwood is a community with a lot more mature families where the kids have long since moved out of home and away from the neighbourhood. Knowing this we asked why should people who no longer have school-aged children care about who the trustee is let alone go out and vote for one? His answer was a great answer and one that I would have never thought about. Joseph tells people that youth are going to be the ones taking care of them when they retire. When he is canvassing he asks people if they would trust today’s youth to take care of them when they retire, people usually say “No”. That’s when Joseph says, “Then you should care about who the trustee is because the trustee is helping to turn these youth into independent adults.”
As a community, traditionally we haven't heard much about what our trustees are doing, so I asked Joseph how the community would know if a trustee was doing a good job? Joseph says “They will see and hear about the positive differences happening in their community through events, programs, newsletters, emails and meetings.” He said that he would be much more active in writing updates for community newsletters, such as the Guildwood News and Views. He also said that he has worked with every community association in Ward 22 and if elected he “...plans to boost each group up with youth power.”
If elected and he could only do one thing in the next 4 years, Joseph would “Get kids involved in their community.” Joseph wants to introduce mandatory volunteer hours in Grades 7 and 8. He also wants to change the system for required hours in secondary schools. Instead of requiring 40 hours in 4 years, he would make the number of hours 100. He would also add in grade requirements, in Grades 9 and 10 students must get 30 hours each year to pass the Grade and in 11 and 12 students must get 20 hours to pass, therefore accumulating 100 hours. Joseph says that these requirements will assist in students getting scholarships as well as “...directly attack the youth unemployment rate...” by giving youth real world experience and skills. Joseph adds, “I can’t tell you how many youth seek their 40 hours in May of their graduating year. It’s just ridiculous and our school system allows for this.”
We asked Joseph what he thinks a day in the life of a trustee looks like, he said “If I base your question on what I have seen in the past 4 years, I’d say smile for the camera.” he also mentions that most of the trustees’ power was taken away by previous provincial governments. Joseph does say that a majority of a trustee’s day should be spent in the community they serve, “Attending associations meetings, parent/teacher interviews, community events, police meetings and school council meetings.” Joseph says that he has been doing this as 4LF Program Director and he will “...continue to be proactive as the next Trustee for Ward 22.”
We asked about who Joseph supports for Mayor and Ward 34 Councillor. Joseph says that he is still deciding between Paul Ainslie and Jason Colterman for Councillor but says he supports John Tory and David Soknacki for Mayor. He added that Rob Ford manages to draw youth that may not otherwise be interested in politics, but he said he cannot endorse him "for obvious reasons...". We also asked Joseph if he thinks it makes a difference who the mayor or Councillor is from a trustees perspective. He said that it does matter because trustees and councillors occasionally need to work together in order to fix an issue in their community.
We asked Joseph about who his favourite teacher was and what his favourite Grade was. He said it was his Grade 5 teacher because she “...engaged me, picked my brain in a way.” Joseph also mentioned that she understood that to make her class run smoothly she had to help him out. “She brought me in earlier, she said, ‘Joseph come wipe my boards.’ ‘Come get the desks in order.’ and various other things and through that I gained more of a respect for teachers and what they do, all the little things that they did just to prepare for that class.” Joseph mentioned that both Grades 5 and 12 were his favourite Grades because he was engaged in school and the teachers understood him.
We also asked Joseph a series of rapid fire questions to get to know him outside the role of Trustee. We asked what is one thing that many people don’t know about you? He answered that he had been suspended from elementary school 17 times. If we were to give Joseph a plane ticket anywhere in the world he would chose to go back to Jamaica, where he has been on two previous occasions. He says that he would love to go back there and see more of it. He does say though that he gets homesick being away from the city for an extended period of time. We asked him who he would like to sit down and have a chat if it could be anyone living or dead, fictional or real. He said that he would love to have a discussion with Rob and Doug Ford on their “brotherhood,” Joseph says “I would like to know about their relationship.” We asked him what he would like to have carved on his tombstone, he answered with two simple words, “A Doer”. Lastly we asked him if he could say anything to his 15 year-old self what would it be? Joseph answered, “That’s when my life changed so I would just say ‘Keep going.’”
Thanks to Joseph for taking the time to sit down with us and discuss Guildwood and the role of Trustee. To learn more about Joseph’s campaign you can visit his website at www.K4T.ca and follow him on Twitter, @JosephKhargie or Facebook.
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