February 27th is pink shirt day! Pink shirt day began in 2007 after two high school students distributed pink shirts to other students in their school in solidarity with another boy who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. This movement against bullying spread and now there are versions of it in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, China, Panama, and many other countries. In addition to the social aspect of wearing pink clothing to show solidarity against bullying there are also fundraising efforts. The CKNW pink shirt fund raises money for anti bullying and pro mental health initiatives. These initiatives include Kids Help Phone, KidSafe project, Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention Centre of BC, Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Canada, Red Cross Canada, and Stigma free society. In 2018 these funds impacted 59,300 children and youth.
Last year, when asked about what strategy work to reduce bullying, psychologist Bonnie Leadbeater told UVic “Creating environments that enhance conflict resolution and caring and helping behaviors reduces bullying. The WITS program have contributed to reductions in bullying and victimization in Canada by changing school, community and family environments. Bullying can stop when adults believe their children’s reports of victimization and help them to solve the problem.
What does not typically work to reduce bullying is the approach of “zero tolerance” and punishment. Also working to increase social skills or empathy, without clearly addressing bullying and victimization, may not help.”
To get involved you have a number of options. Firstly, and most obviously, you can wear a pink shirt of the 27th. Some local businesses will be giving part of their proceeds to the pink shirt fund or raising funds for it in some other fashion. These include Cadence Cycling Studio, Denny’s, Take Five, Fresh Cup, and I am someone. Coast Capital Savings hosts an annual ‘Pink Luncheon’ that has raised $340,000 for the Pink Shirt Fund since 2012.
If you or someone you know are dealing with bullying then these resources are also available to you:
Resources:
Bullying Ends Here
ERASE Bullying
EFAP
EQHR
OHSE