The bullying that her grandson suffered at his school, Westcreek Public School in Pickering, led the boy to lose his will to live, his grandmother said...“He said to me, ‘Mimi, my biggest issue is that I can’t protect myself, and if a man cannot protect himself, then he is not a man,’” recalled Ms. Wilson.
“At the cottage in July, he said, ‘If I have to go back to that school, I’ll kill myself.’”
Well Bullying Awareness Week is over and as usual it didn't get the coverage it deserves. I checked Google News every night when I came home from work, but I was always disappointed. Just a couple of stories in small regional papers, and nothing on the blogosphere. I had almost given up when something amazing happened.The mighty CBC National News carried a story on bullying in Canada.
I found it hard to watch.The little redhead with his Spiderman toy. The small boy getting snow rubbed in his face.The girl with cerebral palsy who was tripped by the bullies. That kind of cruelty makes me wild with anger.
But I also practically wept with joy, because hopefully now more Canadians will understand that they live in a country with one of the worst bullying records in the world.
Canada is one of the developed world’s worst offenders when it comes to bullying, according to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) survey on Health Behaviours of School-Aged Children. The survey, which is based on children’s reports of bullying and victimization, ranked Canada 36th worst out of 40 developed countries for bullying. In Canadian schools bullying happens every 7.5 minutes in the playground and every 25 minutes in the classroom (Craig and Pepler, 1997). “The human impact of bullying and interpersonal violence is heartbreaking. Children who are victimized can be emotionally scarred for life...” One of the few developed countries with no national anti-bullying strategy. Where one of the few national organizations could be about to be crippled by a lack of federal funding. Despite these dismal statistics, organizations like PREVNet that work to promote positive relationships and combat bullying among Canadian kids are about to run out of federal funding with no new funding in sight, despite their being linked with 62 expert researchers from 27 Canadian universities, and 49 national organizations. Because the SoCons in the PMO don't want children to be taught that homophobia is bad. And of course, because those Harper Cons are the foulest gang of political bullies this country has ever seen.
And so many Canadians just don't care. Oh well. Can you believe that someone would trip a girl with cerebral palsy? Did you see the helpless look on the face of that small bullied boy wiping the snow off his face? When I next feel like giving up I'll remember THEM. Those poor children. Those cruel bullies. Those bastard Cons. Is this really happening in Canada? What a mad world...
Today is the beginning of Bullying Awareness Week in Canada, and once again this humble campaign's biggest enemy is the indifference of so many Canadians.
As Rick Mercer said in a video last year, for those long out of school Bullying Awareness Week can seem at bit like National Nutrition Week.... and is easily ignored.
Until you google BULLYING and SUICIDE and you realize it's a huge problem. One that can ruin lives or end them way too soon. Or you read what Michaëlle Jean recently wrote:
"Bullying is not only about threats and intimidation, it is foremost about contempt and injustice.”
Or you know that 60 percent of boys who are bullies in elementary school will have a criminal record by the age of twenty-four.So it's EVERYBODY'S problem...and we all have to stand-up to bullies whoever they are.
Which is why I'm so happy..and proud... to see Montrealers like Nico Archambault doing just that.
I was the only guy in the dance part of the sports/dance program and was surrounded by hockey players, divers, gymnasts and swimmers. I was automatically labelled as gay and experienced homophobia first hand.
Cruel jokes, intimidation, insults. People ignored me, pretended I wasn’t there and had no respect for what I had to say. They would steal or damage my belongings and people would team up to hurt me physically. I took a couple of beatings.
And all the parents and teachers and kids who are trying to do something to fight this horrible problem.
This campaign for a kinder, gentler Canada still doesn't have enough support or resources. It's still an uphill struggle in the face of public indifference. For too many kids, like gay teens, school is still a war zone
And of course Stephen Harper's Con government is doing nothing to help gay kids or all the other victims.
Despite these dismal statistics, organizations like PREVNet that work to promote positive relationships and combat bullying among Canadian kids are about to run out of federal funding with no new funding in sight, despite their being linked with 62 expert researchers from 27 Canadian universities, and 49 national organizations. Because these Cons are not just homophobes, they are bullies themselves. Which is the main reason I dislike them so much.
But thanks to people like Nico Archambault and thousands and thousands of others we are making some progress. We just have to do more.
Because whether it's in the schoolyard... or the workplace... or the seniors home ... or wherever. Every life COUNTS...
I am the person who says bullies are cowards, and will fight them FOREVER.
I am the person who believes indifference KILLS. I am the person who says bullying is cruel and EVIL.
