Wednesday February 22, 2023 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated February 25, 2023]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Pink Shirt Day brought Premier David Eby and Rachna Singh and Minister of Education and Child Care to addressing a crowd at the BC Legislature.
The livestreamed Pink Shirt Day event also included remarks by Carol Todd (mother of Amanda Todd who killed herself after intense online bullying), and featured a choir presentation by SD61 students from South Park Family School.
The crowd included MLAs, students, education advocates, parents and community members.
16th Pink Shirt Day:
The government Pink Shirt Day statement includes: “Today marks the 16th anniversary of Pink Shirt Day, a day where we join together as a province to celebrate diversity, belonging and empowerment. Our government is committed to ensuring that British Columbians of all backgrounds feel safe and respected. The well-being and safety of students and staff in our K-12 education system is a top priority.”
“We are committed to making sure our schools are places where children of all sexual orientations, gender identities (SOGI) and gender expressions, feel safe, accepted and respected,” said Eby and Singh in a release.
“Like all parents, I am concerned about bullying and how we stand up against it. This is why Pink Shirt Day is so important. We’re going to continue working with students and staff to stop bullying and create a K-12 school system where everyone can thrive,” said Eby.
Building trust through communication:
At the podium, Eby joked about knowing that kids may come home from school and not really say about what goes on in school. Building a relationship of trust is important for communication to occur two ways, said Todd.
Carol Todd — who founded the Amanda Todd Legacy Society and is a digital literacy educator in the Coquitlam School District (SD43), defined ‘young people’ as children, youth and young adults.
Kids on social media:
She provided some statistics about bullying and social media, from a study done in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic:
- 77% of youth have their own smart phones: ages 9 to 15.
- 80% have an account 9-11 that requires users to be 12+
- 97% of youth to communicate with ifrends and family
- 62% have talked to someone online who they have never met n person
- 81% play games online
- 80% of all kids keep their smartphones in their bedrooms at night.
Todd put words to some of the challenges, such as “online meanness and online cruelty” She says people need to talk about how it fells and what it looks like. That bullying comes in the form of calling someone a name, threatening to physically hurt someone, spreading rumours, sharing a video, or making fun of ethnicity, gender, race or sexual orientation. These things can happen online and offline, she said.
Teaching kindness in school:
As a teacher for over 38 years, Todd says that this knowledge about kindness can happen every day. “Teachers can bring that knowledge into our classrooms every day. It’s not a special curriculum, we can talk about how to be kind and respectful, all the time in every different subject area.”
Todd said that when there is a relationship of trust, kids will come and say when things feel wrong.
Government partners:
“We have many incredible partners in our work to ensure all children feel valued and safe to be their authentic selves at school. Thank you to the BC School Trustees Association, BC School Superintendents Association, BC Association of School Business Officials, BC Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association, BC Teachers’ Federation, Canadian Union of Public Employees BC, BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, Federation of Independent School Associations, First Nations Education Steering Committee, First Nations Schools Association and Métis Nation BC.
“We are also thankful for partners such as ARC Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the lives of young British Columbians of all sexual orientations and gender identities. ARC is a recognized innovator in SOGI-inclusive education, a key pillar of the Erase strategy. The foundation’s mission is to foster awareness, respect and capacity through SOGI-inclusive K-12 education to reduce 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination in schools.
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends covers news that has impact on the community — including business, education and local community announcements.
We’ve been doing that since 2008 in the west shore (first as MapleLine Magazine 2008-2010, then Sooke Voice News 2011-2013, then West Shore Voice News 2014-2020), emerging fully online mid-2020 at islandsocialtrends.ca .
Island Social Trends editor and publisher is Mary P Brooke. She has been focussing on news of the west shore through a socioeconomic lens since 2008, with a greater focus on Langford and Colwood since 2014, and since 2017 has also been covering BC political news.
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