People across Richmond will mark Pink Shirt Day by donning pink today, and while the campaign helps raise awareness of bullying, countering negative, predatory behaviour also needs to be dealt with on a daily basis by building empathy and kindness, says a director of a local non-profit.
Pink Shirt Day began in Nova Scotia in 2007, when two boys wore pink in solidarity with another student who was being bullied for wearing that colour.
Since then, students across the country and the globe have taken part in the annual campaign to wear pink to help prevent bullying – in person and online.
Campaigns such as pink shirt day can help bring issues of bullying into a public forum, said Carol Hardie, Touchstone Family Association’s youth services program director.
“It helps draw attention to the issue (of bullying), so that it’s not forgotten,” said Hardie.
But, she said, on a day-to-day basis, people can be guilty of not being as aware or mindful of behavior that targets and intimidates others.
Bullying is a repeated behaviour, she explained, rather than something that happens in isolation. But it has also changed through time.
Something that Touchstone has seen — many of the organization’s services focus on vulnerable youth — is an increase of predatory or bullying behaviour on online platforms such as Instagram.
What also stands out, said Hardie, is that the organization is seeing more LGBTQ+ youth experiencing or being victimized by bullying.
But helping kids get comfortable confronting bullying when they witness it, particularly in online platforms, “will help to dissipate it and decrease it,” she said.
Fostering empathy and kindness in students is something Richmond schools are doing well, by building social and emotional learning into the school curriculum, she said.
By focusing more on the bystander than the bully, and helping young people build compassion, kindness and empathy, helps them stand up when they see something that’s inappropriate or uncomfortable, said Hardie.
That’s something that can have an impact on adults, too, she added, with people showing more compassion and tolerance to each other.
And youth do seem more willing to stand up and speak out, she said.
This year’s pink shirt day social media campaign, Lift Each Other Up, is quite poignant, said Hardie.
“Once again, it’s about doing more social and positive peer-building, instead of just focusing specifically on the bullying behaviour.”
