Our government recently announced an important anti-bullying initiative.
Laureen Harper, wife of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, announced a large contribution to the Canadian Red Cross’ Stand Up to Bullying program. The purpose of this initiative is to engage more than 50,000 youth and help them learn how to prevent bullying in their communities.
In my opinion, much of growing up is about learning. At one time or another most kids will have firsthand experience with bullying. Some will see their friends bullied and some will be bullied. As a parent, I know this is an important turning point in their development, what they learn next will influence their behaviour for years to come.
Programs like Stand Up To Bullying are not designed to address every individual situation, but reinforce the important messages that kids need to hear. Stand Up To Bullying’s slogan is, “If you see it, you can stop it,” and that is a message I am proud to support.
As I have said before, bullying is a complex issue and there is no single solution. To address this issue we require the continued efforts of parents, teachers, school administrators, community service groups, governments and society as a whole. We all have a role to play.
Our federal government is taking action.
We have taken many steps to toughen Canada’s laws dealing with violent crime and protecting victims’ rights. For instance, we created the Office of the Ombudsman for Victims of Crime and introduced legislation to double the victims’ surcharge.
In addition, through Health Canada we fund a number of awareness and educational initiatives. The RCMP operates a website, DEAL.org, which offers resources to youth, parents, and educators on bullying and cyber-bullying. Our government also invested to expand Cybertip.ca’s capacity to address self and peer exploitation.
Perhaps most importantly, we continue to listen to those who have been hurt by the most heinous forms of bullying. For instance, on May 10, Stephen Harper led a roundtable on cyberbullying that included Carol Todd (mother of B.C. bullying victim Amanda Todd, who killed herself) and Leah Parsons (mother of Nova Scotia teen Rehtaeh Parsons, who hung herself after an alleged video and photo of her rape circulated on the internet).
There is nothing we can say or do to bring their daughters back to them. But we can and we must continue to address this issue. With the Prime Minister and Mrs. Harper’s continued leadership, I know we can do just that.
