Anti-bullying activist knocking on Ottawa's door
James Mallory
The Northern Light, Bathurst,NB
Two anti-bullying activists are taking their issue to the Canadian government once again.
Robbie Frenette and Katie Neu, founders of the youth based anti-bullying group BullyingCanada.ca, are collecting names for a petition to present to the Government of Canada. Mr. Frenette, a Bathurst resident studying journalism at NBCC Woodstock, said the idea is to get the government to introduce new legislation in the House of Commons pertaining to anti-bullying.
"This petition will affect everyone in Canada. Many people have experienced bullying at least once in their life and hopefully, with this petition, new legislation can be proposed," said Mr. Frenette.
This is the second such petition Mr. Frenette and Ms. Neu have organized. Mr. Frenette said the first petition is being reviewed by the government and the purpose of the second petition is to keep government officials aware of the issue.
"If we can raise awareness on the issue I am would say we have been successful. We received national media attention for the last petition. Our message got out there," he said.
Mr. Frenette, 20, said the goal is to get the government to make an amendment in the Criminal Code to deal with bullying. He said at this point we are unsure what the amendments would consist of.
Mr. Frenette said the first national petition had more than 5, 000 names and he hopes to double, if not triple that number.
He said the petition will be presented in the House of Commons by his Member of Parliament, Tobique-Mactaquac Conservative Mike Allen.
Mr. Frenette began his plight against bullying while a Grade 9 student at Bathurst High School. A victim of bullying in the past, Mr. Frenette decided to speak out by approaching various media outlets with his story.
"It all leads back to Grade 9 with the column the editor (Greg Mulock) of The Northern Light wrote, entitled "Even in so-called enlightening times, bullying is still a problem." It has been a battle that we have taken on at a national level," said Mr. Frenette.
Since then, Mr. Frenette has organized anti-bullying conferences including two at the Bathurst Youth Centre and he helped form the Phantoms Against Bullying Committee.
Last year, Mr. Frenette and Ms. Neu also convinced the Province of New Brunswick to designate Dec. 17 of every year as anti-bullying day.
"In regards to Anti-Bullying Day, we will be asking the Bathurst City Council to once again declare Dec 17th as Anti-Bullying Day. Schools and Businesses in the Chaleur Region are taking a stand against bullying by signing the petition and wearing blue, the colour of the anti-bullying awareness ribbon."
Mr. Frenette said there are local businesses which have petitions on hand for citizens to sign, including Maritime Welding Inc., the Bathurst Regional Airport, Excell-Pro Machine Shop, the Golden Image Centre, NAPA Bathurst and AES Consultants Ltd.
He added that if any businesses or citizens are interested in a copy of the petition, they can log on to BullyingCanada.ca.
