‘It takes a village,’ Scarborough Centre candidate Taiba Ahmed says gaps in youth support inspired her Toronto city council campaign

Taiba Ahmed’s decision to run for Toronto city council in Scarborough is one that she considers deeply personal, and one that was inspired by her own brother going missing when he was 15 years old.

“It made me realize that there’s a lot of issues in the system, and we’re not seeing the municipality or province work on it, and that’s why I’m running,” Ahmed said in an interview with Now Toronto.

Ahmed, 22, is running in Scarborough Centre. She said her brother went missing three times between the ages of 15 and 17, with his longest disappearance lasting about nine months. He returned home in October 2025.

The experience, she said, exposed gaps in the support available to young people and their families.

“I think the main element is the lack of community,” Ahmed said. “When individuals are disconnected from a community, a system, it makes it more difficult to reintegrate back into the community, a society.”

Ahmed said her family tried setting up therapy and other supports for her brother, but getting him to participate was difficult. She believes more community-based intervention is needed for young people who are vulnerable to crime or exploitation.

“We need a third person willing to step in and be like, ‘This is the structure we’re having. When we’re having children that are coming back, you need somebody to step in and be like, ‘This is what you have. These are your options,’” she said.

Affordability and youth safety

Ahmed also pointed to Toronto’s affordability crisis as one factor she believes can contribute to young people becoming vulnerable to crime and violence.

She argued that financial pressures can leave teenagers feeling excluded from their peers and, in some cases, looking for other ways to afford things they see as basic parts of social life.

“One thing I have kind of condensed down is that desperation and the fear of missing out,” Ahmed said. “They get involved with these things because their parents, unfortunately, cannot afford these basic luxuries.”

“Because of that, they find other ways to fund their needs,” she said.

Ahmed said those vulnerabilities can be exploited by people recruiting young people into criminal activity.

She believes addressing those risks requires more than policing, including stronger community connections, mentorship and support for youth who are already considered at risk.

“The thing is, when you see something is wrong, it is time to step in,” Ahmed said. 

She wants more support for Scarborough youth

Ahmed said Scarborough Centre needs more community infrastructure, including parks, playgrounds and affordable programming.

“It’s also because we don’t have infrastructure,” she said. “All these things contribute to young people feeling like they’re not being looked after.”

She believes city officials need to take a more active role in supporting vulnerable youth.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” Ahmed said. “I think that we’ve lost that element in society.”

If elected, Ahmed said affordability would be an immediate priority. She wants to pursue grants for local grocery stores to help them keep prices down while competing with larger chains.

She also said young people are increasingly concerned about environmental issues, including the growth of data centres and their impact on resources.

At 22, Ahmed would bring a distinctly younger perspective to council. She said her campaign preparation began in June 2025, with her parents initially concerned about her entering politics.

Now, with the election approaching, she said she is focused on turning her personal experience into a broader policy agenda.

“We have individuals who are concerned about this issue, but we just need some mobility,” she said.