Category Archives: Toronto Bullying Prevention

Does Toronto need an anti-bullying bylaw like Port Coquitlam?

Port Coquitlam is currently working on an anti-bullying by-law which will give law-enforcement officers the power to charge people who are apprehended for bullying related offences. In November, Port Coquitlam participated in an anti-bullying campaign which was launched as a result of the suicide of Amanda Todd, the teenaged girl who committed suicide earlier this year as a result of bullying.

The anti-bullying bylaw would be the first law of this type to be passed in British Columbia. Plans are in place to have fines which would range from $200.00 to $2000.00, depending on the specifics of the offence.

People who are charged and fined with a bullying offence will be given the opportunity to have their ticket fees waived if they agree to participate in an anti-bullying course developed through the PoCoMo Youth Society.

The PoCoMo Youth Services Society was established in 1992 under the name PoCoMo Teen Centre Society and their original mandate was to develop teen centers in the three British Columbia Cities of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody. Their website is www.pocomo.org.

Another Canadian City which has had an anti-bullying bylaw in place since 2006, is Regina, Saskachewan. The bylaw in Regina was created as a result of the tragic bullying case of Reena Virk. Regina has defined bullying as: “any objectionable or inappropriate comment, conduct or display by a person directed at an individual not of the same household intended to intimidate, humiliate, ridicule or isolate, which causes or is likely to cause physical or emotional distress.”

Smartphone use can contribute to bullying incidents

The Regina bylaw also makes reference to bullying which results from the use of electronic devices, obviously a reference to the increasing seriousness of cyber-bullying. Regina also makes it possible for those charged to have the fee dropped by agreeing to participate in an anti-bullying course.

Regina officials feel the anti-bullying bylaw has helped to education its residents about bullying. They believe that it is important to raise awareness of the problem and help people understand the seriousness of bullying situations.

Some residents of Toronto believe that an anti-bullying bylaw would be a good thing for their city, as an effort to help increase awareness about a societal situation which in some cases has gotten out of hand.

I believe that education is a very important piece in the puzzle to reduce bullying. As society becomes more aware and more empathetic, our citizens will begin to raise the standards related to what is acceptable by society in general in the area of human relations and more specifically, bullying.

Please spread the word; bullying is not acceptable, in any form.

Stand Up Against Bullying!

Bruce Langford is an anti-bullying advocate in southwestern Ontario.

Take a determined stand against bullying at school. These students did!

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I have a story to share with you about just a small number of students who really made a difference in their school.

We had visited the school last year and presented our ‘Stand Up For Respect’ assemblies to all the students. Apparently, some really got the message:

After seeing what they referred to as ‘too much meanness and too much bullying’, five students decided to set up a ‘Stand Up For Respect’ club.

At first, only about a dozen students came to the weekly meetings, but then word started to spread that some cool stuff was happening at the meetings and those students were starting to get noticed. They were speaking up and setting examples that made some positive impact.

After two months, between thirty and forty students were attending the meetings.

They spent their time making posters at some meetings. (The principal let them put the posters up around the school.)

Then they decided to record some commercials that could play on the school announcements.

One student suggested they work on a design for t-shirts, so they starting coming up with different designs. They thought it would make sense to get more people involved, so they put their t-shirt ideas up in the front hall of the school and let everybody vote on their favourite. Then there would be a draw, and one of the voters would win a ‘Stand Up For Respect’ t-shirt.

One week the students were able to get permission to have their meeting in the school computer lab, and they did research on-line. They found videos about showing respect and they decided to ask if they could show some at a school assembly. They had other ideas for the assembly as well. They thought it would be cool to do a skit about stopping bullying by being respectful and standing up against bullying.

They knew that a lot of kids in their school liked music, so they decided to make up some songs about respect.

More and more ideas came together and they thought they could do the assembly for students and maybe do another one at night for parents and kids.

The ‘Stand Up For Respect’ meetings had to start happening in the gym, because more than 130 students were coming on a regular basis, along with seven or eight teachers who were helping out.

They started a contest which each class could participate in called Respect Elect (ric).

Classes could think of a way to decorate their door on the topic of respect, but they had to use bright electric colours. Then the ‘Stand Up For Respect’ club would ‘elect’ the door they thought had the most impact. A picture was taken of every door and the pictures were put on the school website. The winning class got a pizza party. (The local pizza restaurant donated the pizza!)

Parents phoned the school and talked about how impressed they were that the school was being so active to encourage respect.

Just a little story about one school community that really got on board to make some great changes.

Bruce Langford is an anti-bullying advocate who presents bullying prevention assemblies and keynote addresses.

www.standupnow.ca

Student Survey Initiates Anti-Bullying Assemblies in YRDSB

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Richmond Rose Public School was our destination yesterday as we set out to present three bullying prevention assemblies.

Principal, Mr. Rick Rosemin and Vice-Principal Ms. Heather Levitt have obviously worked hard to set the tone for their continuing anti-bullying initiative. They both appeared before the students in each of the three assemblies and talked about the importance of bullying prevention. They played a game with the students as part of identifying the difference between bullying situations and non-bullying situations. They made it clear to the students that respect comes first at Richmond Rose School.

The mission of Richmond Rose P.S. is “Learning and Growing Together”. In 2005, students and staff created the Richmond Rose Touchstone to support everything we do. The following is the Richmond Rose Touchstone:

At Richmond Rose, we take responsibility for our work, words and actions.
We put in our best efforts, enjoy our successes, and learn from our mistakes.
We embrace each other’s differences and care for each other’s feelings.
We think before we speak and use words that are appropriate for school.
Our community is a safe community; a place where we treat people with kindness, respect and dignity
No one is afraid at our school.
At Richmond Rose, we are free to succeed!

Students were very engaged by the messages delivered in our assemblies. It was obvious that Mr. Rosemin and Ms. Levitt as well as the rest of the staff have made an impression on the students regarding acceptable behaviours and what constitutes bullying.

Students approached me after the junior and intermediate assemblies and asked questions how they could learn even more about bullying prevention and growing respect levels.

Children in the primary assembly were heard singing Bruce Langford’s bullying prevention theme song “Stand Up” as they played at recess.

Richmond Rose Public School sets a fine example of how schools can help students in a meaningful way to learn how to respect each other more. We extend a sincere thanks to Mr. Rosemin and Ms. Levitt and all the staff and students for allowing us to be part of their student survey driven Anti-Bullying assemblies.

Stand Up Now Productions presents their ‘Stand Up Against Bullying’ Assemblies to students of all ages.
www.standupnow.ca

Learn How Self-Regulation and Bullying are Directly Related

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I am returning from an excellent conference on self-regulation by Stuart Shankar and Jane Bertrand of York University in Toronto, held at the Mississauga Living Arts Centre and sponsored by the Peel Region District School Board. This was the twenty-fourth annual school psychology conference which the PSB has sponsored.
Self-regulation is closely related to the topic of bullying. Self-regulation is about stress and about identifying stressors so you can do something about them. Replace them or change something so that you are no longer stressed. Dr. Shankar emphasized that self-regulation is NOT self-control; it is what makes self-control possible.

Question: How does a child get self-regulated?
Answer: A child gets self-regulated by being regulated.

As teachers, we want our children to be calm so they will be focused and alert. Dr. Shankar really helped me to understand how stressors can affect children and youth negatively and as a result they can have a tough time learning or even functioning in a classroom.
Shankar and Bertrand presented the Five Domains of Self-Regulation. They are: 1/ Arousal Regulation (Physiological)
2/ Emotion
3/ Cognitive
4/ Social
5/ Pro-social

The above five self-regulation domains are all related. One level affects another. People are hyper or hypo sensitive to many things such as bright lighting, visual stimulation or auditory distractions. Auditory distractions are the single greatest stressor so it is important to consider ambient noise, chair clatter and bells or buzzers. These can all have a negative effect on students and their ability to cope in the classroom or their ability to learn effectively.

One segment of the presentation dealt with the teen brain. In teenage years, the brain is driven into cycles of restlessness and exhaustion and in most cases teens are not able to identify their own state of arousal. In other words, they may not realize they are tired or be able to recognize some of their other body states.
Here are the 6 Stages of Arousal as described by Dr. Shankar:
1/ Asleep 2/ Drowsy 3/ Hypo-alert 4/ Calmly focused & alert 5/ Hyper-alert 6/ Flooded
If a teen is constantly being stimulated (for example with TV or video games or skateboarding etc.), then they may be headed for difficulties unless they have a good level of awareness of their own bodies. Teens are natural risk-takers because of the state of the teenage brain, but we need to understand that planful risk-taking is much less likely to get a teen into trouble. Shankar says we need to teach teens their six levels of awareness so they can learn self-regulation.

Jane Bertrand taught us seven keys to a self-regulated classroom. They are:
1/ Classroom makeover (pastel walls with little clutter)
2/ Alert programme
3/ Exercise breaks
4/ Fidgit toys
5/ Playing with clay or modeling medium
6/ Womb room (Snoezelen room)
7/ Yoga

So much fascinating information on the brain and self-regulation. Thanks to you both, Stuart Shanker and Jane Bertrand and to the Peel School Board for sponsoring the event.

Bruce Langford is an anti-bullying advocate who presents bullying prevention workshops in Toronto, Mississauga, North York, Kitchener and London Ontario. www.standupnow.ca telephone: 905-233-2102

Iron Joan Police Foundations Students Stand Up Against Bullying

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The students of Cardinal Newman Catholic School taught us today about bullying prevention.

The bullying prevention advice we learned at Cardinal Newman is:
Be yourself, let your energy spill out. Celebrate life, be kind and fill your life with respect.

You see, the students at Cardinal Newman live the advice you read above. They are filled with energy, they celebrate day-to-day life and they understand the concept of respect.
We will remember the Cardinal Newman spirit and energy we experienced today for a very long time.
It is our hope that the students of Cardinal Newman will remember the bullying prevention strategies we taught today for as long as we remember their energy.
Daytime presentations were ‘Stand Up Against Bullying’ and ‘Stand Up For Respect’. The evening parent student bullying prevention presentation was called ‘Stand Up – Keep Your Kids’. Seventy one families attended and enjoyed outstanding pre-show entertainment by the Cardinal Newman Iron Joan group mentored by students from the Sheridan College Police Foundations program. We were dazzled by the confidence shown by the Iron Joan team. The Sheridan College Police Foundations students who mentored the children at Cardinal Newman were extremely proud of the confidence and skill exhibited by their students.
Cardinal Newman student council also did an amazing anti-bullying presentation. This anti-bullying parent/student program presented by Bruce Langford was made possible by the Ontario Government’s Parent Reaching Out Grant (PRO) available to school parent groups across Ontario.

Bruce Langford is a bullying prevention advocate who offers anti-bullying workshops in Toronto, Ontario. www.brucelangford.ca Telephone: 905-233-2102