Wanting to do more in Bradford West Gwillimbury, resident Nathan Harris is running for Ward 7 councillor in the upcoming municipal election.
Committing himself to volunteer work in the community has helped drive Harris towards municipal politics to fight for a bright future.
“I want to gain a position where I can give more back to the community,” he said. “I’m a big fan of volunteering, and there’s only so much I can get done with only one set of hands.”
Of his volunteer work, Harris’ most recent endeavour has been as a team lead with the Bradford Community Church's Summer of Service program.
“We would go around town doing nice things for the community,” he said. “It was quite the experience, and it was great because for lots of these kids it was their first job and they’re just starting out. So, we were able to teach them job skills while having a great time giving back to the community.”
Giving his time to the community has become a major part of Harris’ life in Bradford and he sees council as a way to continue on a larger scale.
“If I could volunteer all my time, I would love to,” he said. “To me it feels like it’s my moral duty (to volunteer). If I ever hit hard times, I would hope my neighbour would be there to help me out, and vice versa, if my neighbour hits hard times I’ve got to be there to help them out. We’re all humans and we’re all in this together and I think we can get a lot further when we’re helping each other out and working together.”
If elected, Harris wants to put an emphasis on learning and listening before making any decisions.
“I don’t want to throw everything out of balance and go in there aiming to change all these things,” he said. “What we’re doing now is okay, things are going good—they’re not bad, they’re not great, but they’re okay.
"I would be going in there and taking time to really observe and report on what is the most pressing issue. What are the things our community wants to see done and what’s realistic? I think a lot of people like to go in there and promise all these amazing things and once they get in, they can’t fulfil the promises. I’m being very careful not to over promise.”
As a young adult, Harris sees his age as a plus while Bradford trends towards major growth.
“It’s an asset that I’m young because I’m more receptive to information,” he explained. “I’m not ingrained in my ways. The world is very different from what it was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and even five years ago.
"Since COVID, all of the youth’s lives have been brought online and it’s so dramatically different the way we’re being raised. I think it’s important we have a younger perspective (on council)... We need to make sure we’re set up for success so when it’s time to care for our elderly, we can do that."
With a lot of change over the last few decades, Harris thinks the election is an opportunity to inject more youth into council to get a wider range of perspectives.
“I feel bad for a lot of kids because they’ll never have the opportunity to own a house, and that’s going to cause a lot of problems down the line if we don’t set ourselves up for success,” he said. “If we don’t pull ourselves out of this rut and make sure the youth are doing good, we’re going to feel the pain down the line. I think it’s important to focus on the now, but also very important to focus on the future.”
Although relatively new to the area, in a short time Harris feels he’s entrenched himself and found the place he wants to spend his life and make a positive impact.
“Bradford is the first place I’ve been able to settle down on my own for a significant amount of time,” he said. “I know I’m fresh here, but this is where I’m placing my roots. I’ve been able to engage with the community and I want to keep going.
"I think helping your neighbour is very important and I want to help the people that are around me.”
