Jayden Braves continues to blur the lines between youth leadership and militarist propaganda.
In a move that further cements his role as Canada’s youth ambassador for NATO-style militarism, Jayden Braves—the controversial teenager who serves on the Green Party of Canada’s strategic council —hosted a summit this week in Ottawa under the banner of “Young Politicians of Canada,” the organization he now leads as CEO.
Among the guests present: Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada.
Braves told media he expected 500 to 1000 young Canadians to take part. The event was attended by many high-profile ambassadors from countries including Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Finland, Estonia, the E.U. and Saudi Arabia.
The summit, which aimed to “empower young leaders,” was presented as a non-partisan networking opportunity. But the presence of a top representative of a government engaged in active warfare—alongside Braves’ own history of glorifying armed conflict in the same region—left little doubt about its political subtext.
Braves, who once served as president of the Green Party’s youth wing, made headlines after posting a video of himself firing a semi-automatic rifle while draped in a NATO flag. That video remains unaddressed by Green leadership. Instead of disavowing his promotion of armed conflict, the party remains silent on the matter—no press releases, no internal investigation.
In contrast, the party publicly condemned another youth candidate, Jayden Baldonado, and launched an internal investigation after controversial comments interpreted as condoning violence against Israeli diplomats.
Adding fuel to the fire, Braves posted photos of himself at the summit posing with finger guns—an apparent callback to his previous viral weapons stunt. The gesture, made in proximity to ambassadors at the summit, adds a layer of disturbing normalization to his ongoing flirtation with militarized imagery and political violence.
A Summit of Symbolism
The presence of Ukraine’s ambassador, in particular, sends a powerful geopolitical message. For years, the Ukranian military has received billions of dollars from NATO countries including Canada. Braves’ summit—implicitly framed around international partnership and leadership—functioned as a soft-power endorsement of Canada’s military support for Ukraine which he has repeatedly praised in the past. Braves has been trained by and is currently supported by continued public relations efforts lead by the NATO Association of Canada to build support for militarism among young Canadians.
Elizabeth May Remains Silent
This is the same Elizabeth May who publicly branded her party as the “voice of non-violence” just days ago. The same leader who refused to use the word “genocide” for Gaza, who still won’t call for sanctions on Israel, and who wrote on the anniversary of October 7th that “the bell that tolls the loudest is for those who died on October 7th.”
A Party at Odds With Its Own Values
Braves’ summit reflects a broader crisis within the Green Party of Canada: a party that once called for peace, disarmament, and global justice is now adrift, unwilling to confront militarism when it’s wrapped in youth branding and establishment approval.
With Ukraine’s ambassador lending legitimacy to a teenager who posts war-glorifying stunts and gestures with finger guns, and with no reaction from the party that once gave him a platform, the question is no longer whether the Greens have lost their way—but whether they even want to find it again.
Conclusion: A New Era of Youth Militarism?
Jayden Braves’ growing profile as a youth leader aligned with NATO and Western military institutions reflects a broader trend: the soft promotion of militarism among Canada’s next generation of political actors. Through summits, staged imagery, and institutional partnerships with ambassadors and defense-aligned figures, Braves is helping to normalize a worldview where global conflict is framed as a matter of duty, democracy, and Western strength. This form of patriotic branding repackages war-making as leadership training and diplomacy, subtly shaping the political imagination of young Canadians. As these narratives gain traction, there is a real risk that critical thinking about peace, neutrality, and non-alignment will be pushed aside—replaced by an enthusiastic embrace of state power, armed intervention, and the ideology of permanent conflict. If left unchallenged, this could mark the beginning of a new era where militarism is not just tolerated, but aspirational.
