Stronger bully policy protects teachers
BY GREG WESTON
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF
FREDERICTON - The Government of New Brunswick marked the first official anti-bullying day in the province with a stronger policy to protect teachers and other school employees from threats and intimidation in their places of work.
Education Minister Roland Haché said the measures, which had previously only applied to students, would provide all educational staff with a better work environment.
"The dedicated people that work with our children, every day teachers..., also have a right to go to school and feel safe and to feel respected for the important work that they do every day on behalf of our children," he said at a press conference held at a Fredericton high school yesterday.
The newly-updated policy reinforces bullying measures, re-categorizing bullying and cyber-bullying as "serious misconduct." A section outlining parents' inappropriate actions towards staff has also been added.
This summer, the provincial government designated Dec. 17 as anti-bullying day, the first province in Canada to do so. The official day of awareness was largely the result of efforts by anti-bullying activist Rob Frenette, who co-created a youth support website after enduring 12 years of bullying during his time in school.
"We hear from youth on a daily basis. Whether they are asking for suggestions for a school project or if they are a victim of bullying, a bystander or even a bully, we provide them all with the same amount of respect," said Frenette, a journalism student at NBCC Woodstock who enlisted more than 50 New Brunswick schools and 10,000 students to participate in the first annual anti-bullying day.
Progressive Conservative Leader David Alward, the MLA for Woodstock, applauded Frenette for his efforts.
"As a society, we need to learn to be more inclusive. We need to learn that we need to recognize diversity and our uniqueness as individuals in a positive way and not in a negative way," he said.
Mike Allen, member of Parliament for Tobique-Mactaquac, said bullying is becoming a more prominent issue at the federal level and he accepted a petition from two students that called for changes to the criminal code to combat the issue.
One of those students, Jillian Phillips, said she had also been on the receiving end of aggressive behaviour from some of her peers.
"It hurt and that just doesn't go away. It really stays with you," the Grade 12 student said, adding that young people themselves are the ones best equipped to deal with the problem.
"We all know that not many teenagers like to look to their teacher or their parents or somebody in authority. So us, as their friends, we have great impact and we have the power to change our school.
Also speaking at the event was Stacy Coy of the Canadian Red Cross, who said the challenges of bullying have been amplified in recent years due to the growing influence of technology, such as cellphones and the Internet, in the lives of young people.
"In the past, going home at night would allow you an escape from bullying at school, but now ... bullying can happen 24 hours a day, seven days a week," she said.
The Red Cross has developed an anti-bullying program that focuses on student involvement in finding solutions. Coy said she hopes it can be implemented in each school across New Brunswick.
"I don't want to paint just a bleak picture," she said.
"Momentum is growing in the community to respond and this is making a difference because youth are now asking for help, parents are demanding that changes to be made to school policies and schools are searching for solutions to prevent the problem in the first place."
