Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we know, Wednesday, February 29th, is Pink Shirt Day across Canada. Since the House will not be in session on the 29th, Members are acknowledging the importance of that initiative today. And we’re not alone, Mr. Speaker. In the gallery today is Ms. Carrie Heldman and her Grade 5 class. They walked here from N.J. Macpherson School wearing their pink shirts to join us today and to highlight bullying along with us in the House.
I’ll use the words of one of my constituents, Michael Elms -- Michael is in the gallery today – to explain the importance of maintaining or starting anti-bullying initiatives in our schools. Michael said, “Bullying is a huge problem around all schools. I know this because I have friends in the other schools. There are a lot more types of bullying, there’s physical, hurtful and through Facebook and so on. My friends were being pushed and kicked by one of the girls, and his little sister had a bigger kid sending her mean messages on Facebook. When someone bullies someone, they want to know what it feels like, so someone bullies someone and it keeps on going. In the end, everybody’s feelings are hurt.” Michael goes on to say, “To stop bullying, we need to do things like how Pink Day started. In the end, the entire world ended up doing Pink Day, so there are almost four consecutive pink days. It shows that bullying is not okay. Bullying is mean and no one should ever bully anyone.”
We have to also consider the issue of bullying in the larger context. We must look at the work of schools, and district education authorities, and education councils and what they are doing to combat bullying, and use their strategies to combat family violence as well.
Minister Lafferty stated in the House on Monday that we needed to have a coordinated approach. Well, we don’t need to look far to find a coordinated approach to combat bullying and family violence. The Alberta government has committed to end family violence and bullying. They have developed websites for residents, they support a bullying hotline and they have enacted legislation to combat bullying and family violence. Nine government ministries are working collaboratively with communities and implementing a cross-ministry strategy that will provide coordinated responses to family violence and bullying that will help Albertans live violence free.
What are we doing here? The good news is that we have a good start. We have what we need to make a difference. We have the will of our residents like Michael and his classmates. We have the anti-bullying strategies that are practised and promoted by educators across the NWT.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
We have the Coalition Against Family Violence which consistently raises the issue through initiatives like Family Violence Awareness Week. What we don’t have and do need is legislation to formulate and coordinate an approach across the GNWT and across the whole of our territory to address bullying and family violence in our schools and homes in our territory.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to talk about anti-bullying and cyber-bullying and my commending the Quebec government for introducing new measures to counter bullying in schools. Questions earlier this week posed to our own Minister of Education also asked about the Northwest Territories embarking on a journey of creating better sound legislation to combat bullying. We have heard some promise, but we need these measures now.
I can’t tell you the vast number of parents, teachers and students that contacted me since my Member’s statement earlier in the week in support of stopping the violence against bullying. This just reinforces that this issue is well overdue. On top of that, I have to commend that we have some visitors here today from N.J. McPherson. Thank you guys for coming out today and supporting us.
Mr. Speaker, all of this should tell the government that the people of the Northwest Territories are concerned about our youth and that we, as legislators, need to rally together to stop bullying in its tracks.
I want to take a moment just to talk about victims of bullying. Shockingly, recent reports that we heard today that 50 percent of all Canadians have been bullied at one time or another in their lives, that a small minority were victimized regularly and repeatedly. Research has also shown that this minority is not very likely to outgrow the problems caused by such victimization. Without the proper help or intervention, these chronic victims very often are lonely, unhappy or depressed for many years after the bullying started. Admittedly and regrettably, some had no recourse and chose suicide as a means to escape their violence, and my heart goes out to those families.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot let this happen. We have to stop this pattern of behaviour. We cannot let this minority suffer anymore. In fact, we need to look at our very own Mental Health Strategy and open our doors to these people and give them the hope they so desperately deserve. We need to realize that we have the responsibility to both protect and help these victims who need us on their darkest days and hours, and this responsibility starts with us drawing a line in the sand to bullies everywhere in saying no more.
I wish to thank my colleagues here today, addressing in their own way and from their own point of view their support for anti-bullying. As I said the other day, together we can change behaviour and I think today, Mr. Speaker, we are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
