The youth of Weyburn will come together in a "Pink Parade" on Wednesday, April 13, as a statement against bullying in the community.
The youth of Weyburn will come together in a "Pink Parade" on Wednesday, April 13, as a statement against bullying in the community. Over 1,000 participants from the city schools and daycares will gather on Third Street between Prairie Avenue and Bison Avenue, and parade into the downtown core starting at 11 a.m.
Organized by the Canadian Red Cross and representatives from each of the schools, the "Pink Parade" will celebrate the students rights to be accepted for who they are. All participants will wear pink, a symbol to promote acceptance and tolerance between all age groups.
The parade will be led by both a police car and a fire engine. A core group of Student Representative Council members from the Weyburn Comp will follow, carrying a sign promoting the "Pink Shirt Day" event.
Following these, the parade will start with the younger age groups from the daycares and Mini Go School, then followed by the students at St. Dominic and St. Michael, one group from Assiniboia Park, groups from Queen Elizabeth School, Haig School and Souris School, a second group from Assiniboia Park, and then closes with the students from the Weyburn Junior High.
The parade falls on the same day as "Pink Shirt Day" in Saskatchewan. This special themed day will not only be the focus of the "Pink Parade", but it will also expand outside the borders of the city, as all the schools in both the Southeast Cornerstone School Division and Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division will be encouraging students and staff to wear pink shirts that day.
The drive to wear pink shirts on that day is also being encouraged to Weyburn businesses, organizations and residents.
"Pink Shirt Day" is an engaging way to get residents thinking about what they can do to create a safe and respectful environment in their schools, businesses and the whole community. This is an initiative started in 2007 when two boys in Nova Scotia took a stand to support a student who had been bullied.
The victim had dealt with harassment from bullies, after wearing a pink polo shirt on the first day of school. In response, students David Shepherd and Travis Price organized a "Sea of Pink" at their school by e-mailing classmates, and handing out pink shirts and apparel.
Hundreds of students at their school supported the initiative by wearing their own pink clothes on that day. The grassroots "Sea of Pink" campaign attracted worldwide attention, and since then the campaign has motivated students throughout North America and other countries to organize similar school "Pink Shirt" days.
Bullying is a form of abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group). It can include emotional, verbal and physical abuse.
One of the goals of the "Pink Shirt Day" to raise awareness of how bullying can occur in any area of the schools. A growing concern has been cyber-bullying as it can easily go undetected because of lack of parental or authoritative supervision.
In case of inclement weather on April 13, an alternate day for the schools "Pink Parade" has been set for May 11.
