NCJ Number
203389
Journal
Gazette Volume: 65 Issue: 2 Dated: Summer 2003 Pages: 10-12
Date Published
2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article discusses efforts underway in Canada to understand and prevent bullying among the nation’s youth.
Abstract
Whether bullying is on the increase or just more widely discussed, the consequences of bullying can be devastating for young people. The article discusses the efforts underway in Canada to understand bullying and to implement a national approach to preventing bullying. The Fear and Loathing Symposium, organized by Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa (CAYFO), held in Ottawa in 2002 is described as the first national bullying symposium in Canada. The 3 day event brought together 500 youth, teachers, parents, mental health professionals, and police officers from around the country. A significant outcome of the symposium was the creation of a blueprint document highlighting the need for a national campaign against bullying. The national bullying initiative involves an integrated model that underscores the impacts of bullying beyond individual victims to the peer group, schools, and communities as a whole. This approach stresses that the problem of bullying extends beyond the bully and the victim to affect the community as a whole. Activists hope to have a template in place for the implementation of the national integrated model within 12 to 18 months, although those involved warn that the approach will be gradual, perhaps taking 10 or more years before broad-based societal changes are seen. Two textboxes are included with the article; one of which defines bullying and the other of which recounts victims of bullying.