Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to address the anti-bullying campaign. I fully support the initiatives that our schools have taken on and our communities’ support. We must remind ourselves time and time again to keep up our work to stop bullying. It will not stop itself.
Some victims take out their pain by turning to alcohol and drugs. It can be a vicious cycle.
The more we educate our children and let them know that there’s help for them, the more they will not be afraid to step forward. When our children do step forward, they have to know that action will be taken so the bullying stops.
I recommend to my colleagues that we start talking publicly about this. We require the full support of community leaders, who must also step forward to help us in this campaign.
This is a touchy subject for many people. Many of our very own people have been bullied for most of their lives. Some were victims of bullying in residential schools. Today we will support each other and make this subject easy to talk about and easier to address.
Bullying is not just an issue in schools. We have elders who are also bullied by their own children and by community members who take from them and return nothing. Abuse of our elders is a serious issue. There have been posters, workshops and meetings about this. Awareness is building in our communities. Helplines are another way to help our children and ourselves.
We need an NWT-wide policy against bullying. All departments should be involved. I want to add that bullying is a widespread problem across the country. Half of Canadian adults say that they were bullied as children or teenagers, according to a recent poll. The NWT must be a leader in stopping bullies in their tracks.
