Why wear pink on February 23? It all started in 2007 when a student at a Nova Scotia school was bullied for wearing a pink shirt to school. In this instance the bullying truly backfired, because it led to February 23 is now observed nationally as a day for taking a stand against bullying.

Despite increased awareness of the prevalence of bullying and the damage it causes, the statistics continue to paint a dire picture. The most recent statistics show that nearly half (47%) of Canadian parents having a child who has been a victim of bullying. Four out of 10 high school boys report some sort of physical assault, while one out of three girls in grades 6 through 10 are bullied—mainly in the form of social bullying.

While all children and youth are vulnerable to bullying, certain groups are more vulnerable than others. Students with disabilities, neurodevelopmental differences, special healthcare needs, or intellectual exceptionality are more likely to be victimized, as are students who are overweight. LGBTQ youth continue to represent an outsized segment of bullied students.

The negative consequences of bullying and far reaching and severe. According to the Canadian Psychological Association, bullying victims are at increased risk of:

• Depression, anxiety, and mood disorders
• Substance abuse
• Low self-esteem and social confidence
• Isolation and loneliness
• Poor peer relationships
• Stomach aches and headaches
• “Toxic stress” or enduring low-grade systemic inflammation, which is linked to disease
• School absenteeism and learning problems
• Contemplating, attempting, or committing suicide

Of course, for many people, bullying doesn’t stop with high school graduation. Statistics Canada data from 2016 showed that 19% of women and 13% of men had experienced harassment in their workplace in the previous year.

What To Do About All This?

It’s worth acknowledging that the simple act of wearing a pink shirt on February 23 won’t end the problem of bullying. However, taking time to reflect on the nature and extent of bullying and engaging in crucial conversations with children, other parents, teachers, and so on helps foster an atmosphere of openness in which children are more likely to bring such issues to the fore.

Of course, Vista Virtual School, being a purely online school, is by its nature free from the sort of “schoolyard” bullying that most people associate with the term, the amount of time VVS students spend online makes them especially vulnerable to cyberbullying, which impacts some 17% of Canadians aged 18 to 24. Pink Shirt Day is therefore a great opportunity for conversations about online safety and harassment.

This year’s province-wide Pink Shirt Day theme is #BeKindAB, and the government of Alberta encourages Albertans to be “inclusive, welcoming, and supportive with colleagues, clients, friends and family.” Wearing pink is just the start: it takes an entire community’s worth of honest, open conversation to create a safe environment in which children who are suffering from bullying can get the help they need.

Were it not for such conversations, the Nova Scotia boy who had the audacity to wear pink back on February 23, 2007 would have been just another forgotten victim of school bullying. You too can do your part by wearing pink on the 23^rd and participating in the online conversation about bullying with the hashtags #BeKindAB and #PinkShirtDay.

VVS supports Pink Shirt Day and encourages everybody to participate in the conversation about ending bullying in our schools and beyond. For more information and digital resources, visit the government of Alberta Pink Shirt Day page

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If there was ever a year to wear orange on September 30, then this is it. 2021 has been a truly harrowing year for the survivors of Canada’s residential school system and their families—and for Indigenous Canadians generally—starting in May of this year with the discovery of the remains of at least 215 children in unmarked graves at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, followed by subsequent discoveries of similar graves in Saskatchewan.

For millions of Canadians, these grisly discoveries were a sobering reminder that, a full five years after the dissolution of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the tabling of the TRC’s calls to action, the healing process surrounding this dark chapter of Canadian history has barely begun.

This week we mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (a.k.a. Orange Shirt Day) on Thursday, September 30, for which we encourage everyone to wear the colour orange out of respect for Canada’s residential school survivors and to engage in dialogue—as classes, families, workplaces etc.—about reconciliation and the road ahead for us as a society.

Residential School Facts at a Glance

A recent poll showed that half of Albertans know “little” about the residential school system, while a full 20 percent claim to know “nothing at all” about it. This fact in mind, it is worthwhile revisiting some of the key facts about this chapter of our history as a reminder of why it remains such a consequential issue.

1. The residential school system operated for nearly 150 years, from 1863 until the last school closed in 1997.
2. The schools operated in every province and territory except for New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
3. More than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in these schools. Schools were typically situated in very remote locations so as to discourage parental visits.
4. Attendance was compulsory and enforced for Indigenous children aged seven to 16 from 1894 until 1948; thereafter financial incentives remained in place to coerce parents into continuing to have their students attend.
5. Student deaths ranged between at least 3,201 (the official TRC count) and as many as 6,000 (according to some estimates), giving residential school students a higher mortality rate than Canada’s fighting forces in World War II. In the vast majority of cases, parents were not informed of their children’s deaths.
6. Tuberculosis, a disease correlated with malnutrition and poor protection from the elements, was the primary killer of children at these schools. An Alberta physician in the 1920s on an inspection of a school in what is now Maskwacis, AB reported that at least 50 percent of children were afflicted with the disease.
7. At least 90 percent of students were subjected to some sort of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Corporal punishment was standard practice to deter children from speaking their native languages or practicing Indigenous customs.
8. In some cases, students were subjected to medical experiments without their consent (or that of their parents). These included vaccine trials and even nutritional experiments, in which children were deliberately starved.
9. The TRC estimates that some 80,000 survivors of residential school system remain, many of whom continue to suffer from wide-ranging emotional trauma.
10. The Canadian government formally apologized for the system in 2008. Several churches with past involvement in it have apologized as well, although the Catholic church, which oversaw 70 percent of the schools, has yet to do so.

Why an Orange Shirt?

The choice of orange shirts as a symbol of recognition of the abuses suffered in the residential schools hearkens to the story of survivor Phyllis Webstad. As a six-year-old child, Phyllis was traumatized by her teachers when she was forced to strip for wearing a bright orange shirt to school. She has since published two books, Orange Shirt Story and Phyllis’ Orange Shirt—both aimed at younger children, and to this day she works to raise awareness of the system and its innumerable abuses.

The date of September 30 was chosen because late September was typically the time of year when Indigenous children were rounded up from their communities to be taking away to residential schools. The event began as a reunion of former students of the St. Joseph Mission (SJM) Residential School in Williams Lake, BC in 2013. The movement has grown steadily since then, and is now a national movement, with the federal government, several provinces (including Alberta), and a number of churches having made it official.

What Can We Do?

While the Alberta government has yet to officially recognize National Day of Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday, it does recognize the day online. In addition to asking Albertans to wear orange on this day, the GoA website also urges people to:

• Share photos on social media
• Organize an online or in-person event (following Alberta Health guidelines)
• Read about the legacy of residential schools
• Read the summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
• Find and watch films online about people’s experiences at residential schools
• Spend time learning about Indigenous cultures

Don’t have an orange shirt? If so, the organization behind the event sells orange “Every Child Matters” T-shirts on their online store. The site also has the full story of Phyllis Webstad and the movement that is now bringing justice to generations of people who were dehumanized. At VVS we look forward to seeing you in orange on September 30. It’s the least any of us can do.

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Globally more than one out of three (35 percent) of women experience physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime, typically from an intimate partner. It is estimated that 137 women are killed by a family member every day, and less than 40 per cent of the women who experience violence have access help from police or other public services.

Moreover, behind the global COVID-19 headlines is what many experts are calling a “shadow pandemic” of increased violence against women and girls amid lockdowns and other measures, a problem further exacerbated by overburdened healthcare systems. While statistics are hard to come by, some countries are reporting a five-fold increase in emergency calls to women’s shelters this year.

Meanwhile, school closures and economic strain have impacted women and girls more than anybody. In much of the world the pandemic and its economic effects have left women and girls increasingly vulnerable to abuse, harassment, forced marriages, and human trafficking.

The Generation Equality campaign is amplifying its call for global action to increase funding for essential services for survivors of gender-based violence during the COVID-19 crisis. This year’s 16 Days campaign has as its theme: “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!” and the UN is encouraging everyone to become an activist in their own community on this front.

For a list of practical ways you can help end violence against women—even during a pandemic—see this list. Those interested in donating to women’s shelters worldwide can do so at the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.

Violence against women and girls was a serious problem before COVID but has been considerably worsened by the pandemic. Fortunately, the global community has recognized the problem and is taking action—and so can all of us!

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This year, however, the Canadian Armed Forces have cancelled all in-person Remembrance Day events due to COVID-19.

Instead, for the week leading up to Remembrance Day (November 5 – 11), in lieu of the usual in-person events, we will be providing video content developed by the Department of National Defence as part of the National Veterans’ Week Speakers Program.

The following CAF videos pay tribute to Canadian veterans, past and present, and are geared for specific age levels. These can be viewed in lieu of an in-person presentation.

• Video of CAF speakers: message for children in kindergarten to grade 2
• Video of CAF speakers: message for youths in grades 3 to 6
• Video of CAF speakers: message for teens in grades 7 to 12
• Video of CAF speakers: message for all age groups

The Canadian Forces have also developed the following videos for use in a virtual Remembrance Day ceremony:

• Royal Canadian Artillery Band – O Canada
• Royal Canadian Artillery Band – Last Post video
• Royal Canadian Artillery Band – Rouse video
• Royal Canadian Artillery Band – Lament video
• Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers reciting poem “In Flanders Fields”
• A video geared towards mature audiences on the mission in Afghanistan and set to the music of The Trews’ song “Highway of Heroes”
• Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Stories video collection
• Veterans Affairs Canada’s – Faces of Freedom video collection

Teachers and parents/guardians are invited to use this material as you see fit, and are welcome to share it on their personal social media pages. Any further questions can be directed to the National Veterans’ Week Speakers Program national coordinator at 1-833-223-8322 or via email at: DNDRemembrance.SouvenirMDN@forces.gc.ca.

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