KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK
Wednesday, Feb. 23, was the day for students to wear pink.
Pink Shirt Day, a Canada-wide initiative aimed at stopping bullying, saw activities taking place at a number of schools in School District 73.
However, said district assistant superintendent Karl de Bruijn, the anti-bullying effort isn’t confined to one day a year.
“The day and the week is really just to focus on this, but things happen year-round,” he said.
“Really, what we focus on is how to get along.”
De Bruijn - who wore a pink shirt himself - said it’s a difficult task.
“It’s a huge challenge,” he said.
“We certainly don’t teach kids to bully. But, unfortunately, it happens.
“It’s a huge challenge for us as schools and also for parents.”
The road to today’s initiative all started in September 2007, when two teens at a Nova Scotia high school stood up for a younger student.
David Shepherd and Travis Price, both in Grade 12, heard about a Grade 9 student at their school who had been bullied and threatened for wearing a pink polo shirt on his first day of school.
They decided they should do something about it and went to a discount store, where they bought 50 pink shirts and tank tops to wear to school the next day. They also went online to round up support for their anti-bullying cause, which they dubbed a “sea of pink.”
It worked.
The next day, dozens of students were outfitted with the discount shirts but, even better, hundreds of students showed up wearing their own pink clothes, some from head to toe.
The bullies were reportedly never heard from again.
This year, Pink Shirt Day in B.C. coincides with Anti-Bullying Day.
Yet, the need for awareness and action against bullying remains as strong as ever, say those involved in the pink event.
“Awareness of what bullying is and understanding that it hurts is important,” said Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Vancouver president and CEO Carolyn Tuckwell.
“It isn’t just a rite of passage. It doesn’t have to happen. And it’s relevant to everyone, whether in school, after school or in the workplace.”
According to bullyingcanada.ca, as many as 25 per cent of children in grades 4 to 6 have been bullied and approximately one in 10 children have bullied others, while a 2004 study published in the Medical Journal of Pediatrics found about one in seven Canadian children ages 11 to 16 are victims of bullying.
The provincial government has taken steps to address bullying in recent years, including a Ministry of Education resource brochure for parents in 14 languages that can be found online at bced.gov.bc.ca/sco.
In addition, the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the Pride Education Network (PEN) are launching a new resource for teachers, entitled The Gender Spectrum: What Educators Need to Know.
The new guidebook will complement the resources now available to help teachers address homophobia and transphobia in schools.
B.C. is no stranger to tragedy related to bullying.
From Surrey’s 14-year-old Hamed Nastoh - who jumped off the Patullo Bridge and killed himself after leaving a note behind blaming the constant bullying he endured at school - to Mission’s Dawn-Marie Wesley, 14 - who committed suicide by hanging herself after relentless bullying, there are countless told and untold stories that remain horrific.
De Bruijn said he thinks Pink Shirt Day is helpful in the fight against bullying - but more has to be done.
“It can’t be just a one-day or a one-week thing,” he said.
“But it’s nice to have a week where we can kind of focus on it a bit.”
