Canadians like the idea of public service for young adults. Should it be mandatory?

Though he recalls intuitive feeling unquiet forward of his war machine serve, Daniel You planned to make the most of it. 

"It's required for all Korean males; we grow up expecting it," said the 32-year-old Torontonian, "but I wanted to make sure it didn't hinder my growth in terms of career." 

You immigrated to Canada in high school and attended two years of university before returning to South Korea in 2014 for compulsory military service. He also completed some English proficiency exams beforehand, leading to a role as an army translator.

"I had the opportunity to work in a U.S. Garrison ... But also it opened up the opportunity to apply overseas and actually work in the UAE for about eight months. So I was happy with that experience," he said.

Various nations worldwide have some form of compulsory military or civic service that starts with young adults and, according to a recent poll, Canadians support the idea of citizens under 30 devoting a year to serving their country similarly. Young adults who volunteer gain a host of benefits, experts say — but making it mandatory is a thornier proposition.

At least seven in 10 people responding to a recent Angus Reid poll supported the idea of one year of mandatory public service for Canadians under 30 — things like tutoring kids or working in national parks. Mandatory military service, however, was more divisive, with 43 per cent in support and 44 per cent opposed. 

Amid Canada's Elbows Up wave, the idea was to gauge our appetite for this kind of national initiative, according to Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl. 

"We live in an era where society feels way more stratified ... Way more divided in terms of how they see their country," she said from Vancouver. 

"There's nothing like being in a situation where you are interacting with people from different walks of life, different cultures, different linguistic backgrounds ... [to] have a better understanding of where people are coming from."

However, volunteering has declined, impacted by factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and labour shortages.

Canadians over 15 years old who volunteer for charities or non-profits dropped from 41 per cent to 32 per cent between 2018 and 2023, according to Statistics Canada data from June.

It's a significant drop, noted Megan Conway, president of Volunteer Canada, which helps groups create volunteer initiatives.

Being tuned into social media algorithms feeding us specific information, we're not necessarily seeing what our society actually looks like, Conway said. 

"Volunteering helps you to understand that," she said. "It builds a stronger sense of connection and also belonging."

How volunteering can build knowledge, connection

When the pandemic pushed Priscilla Ojomu into virtual learning, she ventured out of her comfort zone first with online volunteering and, later, in-person experiences. Since then, the 23-year-old has co-founded a youth-led education platform about racial and social injustice, attended a United Nations conference and received Canada's Volunteer Award.

"A lot of youth, they're looking for a purpose, they're looking for how they can apply what they're learning into something tangible and something practical. And those opportunities gave me a venue ... To really do that," said Ojomu, who's studying law at the University of Leicester. 

Direct acts — like stuffing donated backpacks for school kids back home in Calgary — still draw her in, she said: "You're really seeing that impact right in front of you." 

Ojomu calls public service a "third space" outside of home and school, where young people can build social connections and develop real-world skills. Instead of "sleeping or watching Netflix ... You're doing something that is leading up to the future," she said. 

For Aryan Gautam, volunteering is how he serves a cause he's passionate about: climate change. It grew from street and park clean-ups in his hometown of Mississauga, Ont., to founding an eco-education non-profit as a nine-year-old, to more recently working on an energy-efficient cryptocurrency.

"I have a connection with this cause and it's something I want to contribute to," said the 19-year-old Johns Hopkins University student, just starting his second year in Baltimore. 

No matter what they are, acts of service "alter the way you see the world," Gautam said. "They motivate you on a hyper level ... Because it really is making a difference."

You, whose service in Korea spanned age 21 to 23, recalls it as a period of self-reflection. "The first two years of university, I really didn't know what I wanted to do," he recalled.

Military service provided him more time to contemplate his future, You said; a year of volunteering for Canadians "would give that similar opportunity." 

Despite these benefits, making public service mandatory is tricky because not every young person is able to carve out a full year for it while balancing financial or other personal circumstances.

"Volunteering — there is a cost associated with it," beyond those borne by the hosting organizations, said Volunteer Canada's Conway. 

Canada faces an affordability crisis, she noted, and young people are worried about entering the workforce, landing jobs and making a decent income. "Not [everyone] is coming to the table in a equitable way," she said.

A vast amount of work is also needed to build up Canada's volunteering infrastructure and capacity if we wanted to ponder compulsory public service for 18- to 29-year-olds, she added. But right now, "it's just not possible."

While some provinces have required high schoolers to fulfil volunteer hours for course credit or graduation going back a few decades, that hasn't necessarily sparked generations devoted to community service. According to the Statistics Canada data from June, the highest drop in volunteering and volunteer hours came from those aged 25 to 34, a cohort that completed high school before the pandemic.

Yet at a moment where we're reflecting on what it means to be Canadian, Conway feels it's the perfect time to make volunteering "fun and easy," drop the notion of service as punitive and establish a national strategy — one that perhaps includes a pilot for compulsory public service.

Instead of discussing mandates, she wonders, how about brainstorming how "to spark people's interest in really exciting ways"?

After all, she says, "if you tell me I must do it, I'm gonna find every reason not to."

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