Introducing Our Centre’s First Four Youth Fellows
Maddie Case, Zachary (Zach) Severyn, Ava Smithing and Maddie Freeman will be focused on engaging youth on important policy issues, including increasing awareness about the need for Online Harms legislation in Canada.
DEC. 2, 2024 - We’re excited to welcome our first four Youth Fellows to the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy: Maddie Case, Zachary (Zach) Severyn, Ava Smithing and Maddie Freeman.
These fellowships were created to amplify youth voices, and give young leaders a platform to engage their peers and policymakers on one of the most urgent issues of their generation: making the internet safer for young people.
“Who better to design responsible policy for youth than youth themselves,” says Sonja Solomun, the Centre’s deputy director.
One of the key policy areas our Youth Fellows will be focused on includes raising awareness about online harms affecting youth, and how social media companies can be held accountable through legislation.
“The health of our democracy and how young people engage with it is inextricably linked to the health of online spaces,” says Maddie Case. “I am so excited to be one of the Centre’s Youth Fellows, so I can help further the policy conversation and dig deeper into these big questions of online safety and youth engagement.”
Our fellows may have only started their work with us recently, but they’re already making an impact. In October, they spearheaded an open letter, signed by 30 organizations and individuals, calling for Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, to move to Committee stage. They also engaged with Canada’s Justice Minister Arif Virani, and attended a summit on the “Future of the Internet” in Washington, D.C.
Severyn says the summit reminded him of the “urgency to address challenges with online algorithms and social networks” and how “that change is essential to protect the next generation of youth.”
We look forward to sharing inspiring and thought-provoking content from our Youth Fellows over the coming months on our social media accounts (LinkedIn, Instagram, and X). For now, you can learn more about the fellows through their bios below.
Zach Severyn
Fellowship Focus: Media Engagement
Zach is a passionate youth advocate dedicated to shaping public policy for the benefit of future Canadians, with a focus on the intersection of government, finance, and technology. He believes that “supporting future generations requires protecting and informing Canadians about the warning signs of the challenges posed by our rapidly shifting digital environment.” Zach is currently studying at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business. As a Youth Fellow at the Centre, his work focuses on media, youth mobilization, and stakeholder engagement, driving innovative solutions to today’s most pressing youth challenges. Zach is available for media interviews upon request.
Maddie Case
Fellowship Focus: Policy
Maddie is dedicated to addressing critical challenges in democratic engagement, online safety, global peace and security, and climate action. She has held roles in policy, communications, stakeholder engagement, and research. She also holds a Master's of Public Policy and Public Administration from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University. Her experience within the world of politics and public service, at both the provincial and federal levels, allows her to provide a well-rounded perspective on the Canadian landscape.
Ava Smithing
Fellowship Focus: Mobilization
Ava focuses on shaping policy and creating solutions for more human-centered technology design, data privacy and youth online safety. Since graduating from Stevens Institute of Technology in May 2023, she became the first full-time employee at the Young People's Alliance, where she serves as the Advocacy Director. She is also a member of the inaugural All Tech is Human Affiliate cohort. Ava has testified before a Congressional subcommittee in the U.S. on the American Privacy Rights Act and the Kids Online Safety Act. She will be the host of an upcoming investigative podcast exploring the impacts of technology on young people.
Maddie Freeman
Fellowship focus: Digital Literacy
Maddie is a changemaker, a digital wellbeing advocate, and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree-holder from University of Colorado Boulder. Her endless passion and dedication to this cause is rooted in her own mental health journey, deeply intertwined with her immense loss of 10 friends to suicide in her Colorado community. Through grief, she was driven to prevent this from happening to the next generation; in 2020, she wrote a petition that garnered 13,000 signatures in two days, shifting the narrative around mental health care for teens at local school districts. At 19 years old, Maddie created NoSo (No Social Media November), which sprouted into a national initiative that would grow exponentially over the next five years. In 2023, it earned Maddie a Young Innovator in Behavioural Health award. Maddie continues to be fuelled by directly impacting thousands of students annually, who’ve told her how much her initiative has improved their mental health.
Media Contact:
Isabelle Corriveau
Senior Manager, Public Outreach and Communications, Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy
isabelle.corriveau2@mcgill.ca
