Weyburn's young people recently participated in a history-making event that has become a new Canadian tradition. Joining together to create a sea of pink shirts on April 3, approximately 1,200 of Weyburn's school children gathered on Prairie Avenue and Third Street to march in a parade to raise awareness about bullying.
Pink Shirt Day began in 2007, when two Grade 12 students at a high school in Nova Scotia rounded up their friends to show support for a Grade 9 boy who had been bullied by some older kids for wearing a pink polo shirt. They organized a stand against the bullies by communicating with their peers and the next day, nearly 300 students wore pink. They effectively silenced the bullies.
Last year, Weyburn began its first walk for the Pink Revolution Anti-Bullying Week, which was officially declared for March 30 to April 5 of this year.
Pink Shirt Day is co-ordinated through the Canadian Red Cross and is supported by the Ministry of Education and by the Government of Saskatchewan.
"These events are opportunities for communities and individuals to come together for one common goal: to celebrate diversity and to stand against discrimination," Education Minister Donna Harpauer said. "The Government of Saskatchewan believes that all students have the right to a caring, respectful and safe school environment where bullying is not tolerated."
Weyburn's Mayor Debra Button and City Manager Robert Smith walked ahead of the multitude of future leaders and their teachers, administrators and parents. The Family Place and Colour My World Day Care also brought a number of children to join in the march.
Weyburn's students of all ages have been learning about identifying bullying and are becoming equipped with strategies to help both victims of bullying as well as bystanders. Many of Weyburn's teachers had their students do assignments related to bullying awareness.
Joanne Thomson, administrator at Queen Elizabeth school, noted that student behaviour guidelines are printed in the school handbook every year, which include and stress the concepts of respect, responsibility, self-control and compassion.
According to Norman Casavant, Assistant Director of Education for the Holy Family School Division, it is most important to prevent bullying by embedding skills that students need such as self-esteem, leadership, communication, conflict management, empathy, etc., within the classroom setting.
"The goal is to give students skills at an early age that will help them do the right thing given any situation," said Casavant.
"There are instances where prevention isn't an option and cases of bullying do occur. In those instances, the primary importance is strong communication between the child, parent and school," Casavant added. "I urge parents to have immediate and frequent communication with the school if they feel their child is being bullied in any way."
"Education is a partnership," he said.
Brian Trainor, a retired detective from the Saskatoon City Police Service, spoke to Weyburn students this March about Cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is the repeated, intentional harmful or threatening misuse of interactive technology to harass and bully someone.
"Bullying is about power," said Trainor. "It's about a power imbalance between two persons. Cyber-bullying carries this problem one step further by including anonymity and the involvement of a potentially large audience, larger than a school yard bullying incident."
"Cyberbullying can be nonstop. It is 24-7. Home is no longer safe," he said, adding that the majority of cyber-bullying occurs over texting and that the majority of texting abuse is sexual harassment.
All forms of bullying can cause fear, anxiety, mental distress, depression and ultimately Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Combined with one of the many forms of mental health issues such as depression, bullying can contribute to suicide.
According to Trainor, the responsibility always belongs to the parents, who need to stay tuned in to their children.
"You as a parent need to be on top of what is being said to your kids on Facebook, if you want to protect them," said Trainor, adding that the legal age for using Facebook is thirteen.
He also added that teachers need to pay attention to the relationships among their students.
"Our teachers need to be hyper-vigilant about abuse in interpersonal relationships within the school," he said. "They need to know their students. Know their likes and dislikes and what they find interesting, as well as their moods and temperaments. Any change in these should be noted, and the parents need to be brought into the discussion."
Trainor also said that children need to learn to report bullying and/or cyber-bullying to their parents, teachers, or an adult they trust.
"They can't manage this problem themselves," he said. "It is too vast and they are too close to the situation to think objectively."
Sergeant Trainor suggests ways of dealing with cyber-bullying by first blocking the sender and reporting the matter to the internet service provider. Be sure to keep all of the harassing messages because they are evidence. Never respond to the messages, always tell an adult and call the police if the messages are threatening.
The Kids Help Phone line (1-800-668-6868) ensures that the youth across Saskatchewan have access to professional counselling services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Pink Shirt Day has officially become an annual tradition in Weyburn. Ask any student from playschool to Grade 12, Weyburn children know how to handle bullies.
