As the much-hyped documentary film ‘Bully’ begins to roll out across North America, we take a look at local experiences
The Bully Project is the much-anticipated documentary film that follows stories of several kids who are being bullied or have been bullied. Director Lee Hirsch started filming The Bully Project in 2009, about a year before bullying fully came of age as a high-profile crisis with the launch of what became the It Gets Better project. (more…)
Advocates challenge the government to move farther in the attempt to protect young people from bullying violence
The West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund is calling on the British Columbia government to implement a province-wide anti-bullying policy that specifically addresses homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools. Research has found that gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer kids experience bullying at a much higher rate than other students. Two thirds of LGBTQ students report that they feel unsafe at school and more than 1 in 5 are physically assaulted or harassed due to their sexual orientation. Suicide rates are also high among LGBTQ students. (more…)
Nanaimo hip hop artist SirReal will rap about loss this Sunday September 11th as he pays tribute to his brother, Nick
The subject of suicide is no longer something that people keep hidden in the dark, ashamed to talk about. There are many conversations going on and people are learning to reach out to others and to look for help themselves. Suicide is now a topic that people want to know more about, from learning how to recognize the signs of suicidal behaviour in others to learning about how to help. (more…)
Verbal, physical, and sexual harassment is reported by gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, and queer school students
The terms “homophobia” and “transphobia” signify a great deal of unnecessary misery in the lives of Canadian students. Knowledge of their distress and a determination to bring it to the consciousness of educators and parents motivated members of the Education Committee of Egale Canada to conduct a ‘climate survey’ of Canadian schools. University of Winnipeg professor Catherine Taylor launched the survey in December 2007, eventually collecting information from over 3,700 students across Canada. (more…)
Jean Oliver is working to highlight the gaps in mental health services by organizing an event that will ‘connect the dots’
Victoria resident Jean Oliver is planning an awareness event that will see 1,200 volunteers stand on white dots that stretch from the B.C. Legislature building to the Royal Jubilee Hospital on September 10th, 2011. She wants to raise awareness of gaps in mental health services within the capital region—on World Suicide Prevention Day. Jean borrowed the idea from a rally held in New Brunswick last December.
Jean struggled for years to get mental health help for herself and her children. She told the Victoria Times Colonist that to say that services are inadequate is being kind…“the services don’t exist.” (more…)
Jordan Rada and Frank Figueroa survived anti-gay bullying in school and now speak out to help others
Pink Shirt Day was recently observed at schools in Nanaimo and across Canada. The now-annual event was inspired by Nova Scotia high school students David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenaged friends, who in 2007 organized a high-school protest in support of a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied—for wearing pink to school. They took a stand against bullying by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school.
Homophobia in schools is associated with bullying behaviours. A Canadian study found that 37% of gay and lesbian youngsters felt like outsiders at their schools and that a quarter of gay and lesbian youths in Canada have attempted suicide at least once. [Source: Alliance busts gay stereotypes, Nanaimo Daily News] (more…)
