Sawatzky was born in 2000 in
Surrey, British Columbia. He was named after his grandfather, Jacob Sawatzky, a
Mennonite refugee who fled Stalinist Ukraine and later became a physics teacher in Canada. During the final year of his studies, he ran unsuccessfully for the role vice president external of UBC's
Alma Mater Society. While at UBC, Sawatzky was also a member of the
Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Sawatzky was pursuing a master's degree in counselling psychology at
Trinity Western University at the time of his election. ==Political career==