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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Though consensus in consensus-style government can be rare, it was in full swing Thursday as all 11 regular members stood in solidarity with countless children across the NWT who are, or have been, victims of bullying.

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro, along with all other regular members and cabinet ministers, wore pink on Thursday to symbolize their stance against bullying. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

Sporting pink shirts, scarves or ties, each regular member used his or her member's statement to elevate the issue of bullying in the legislative assembly and demand action for those who might otherwise remain voiceless.

The members called on the GNWT, specifically Education Minister Jackson Lafferty, to institute territory-wide legislation and policies aimed at combating bullying and cyber-bullying and providing support for victims.

Cheering them on from the gallery was a group of students from teacher Carrie Heldman's Grade 4, 5 and 6 class at NJ MacPherson. The students, too, were clad in pink in honour of pink shirt day, celebrated nationwide as a means of raising awareness and expressing opposition to bullying. Though pink shirt day traditionally falls on the last Wednesday in February, the children opted to celebrate early, while the members were still in session.

Michael Elms, an 11-year-old student in Grade 5, had earlier spoken about bullying at Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro's constituency meeting. He'd been attending meetings for the past five years or so, said mother Megan Holsapple, but this was his first time actually participating.

"This time his father said, 'Now you're 11 and you're big enough to bring your concerns forward to the MLA like the adults do,'" said Holsapple. "He thought about it all afternoon and I was just as surprised as anybody when he said, 'I want to talk about bullying.'"

Around the same time, Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny read about Mitchell Wilson, an 11-year-old Ontario boy with muscular dystrophy who died by suicide in September. Wilson had been mugged and assaulted by a 12-year-old boy, an incident which, according to Wilson's father, led his son into a downward spiral of anxiety and depression, culminating when the young boy was served with a subpoena to testify against his accused attacker. The next morning his father found him with a plastic bag tied around his head when he went to wake him for his first day of Grade 6. A judge recently ruled oral and written statements made by Wilson before he died would be admissible in a trial against the now 13-year-old alleged robber.

In her statement, Bisaro, the first MLA to speak on the topic, quoted from an e-mail sent by 11-year-old Elms:

"Bullying is a huge problem around all schools. I know this because I have friends in the other schools. There is a lot more types of bullying. There's physical, hurtful and through Facebook and so on ... When someone bullies someone, they want to know what it feels like, so someone bullies someone and it keeps on going. In the end, everybody's feelings are hurt."

But in the end, said Dolynny, who first raised the issue Feb. 13, the focus of the proposed legislation, at least for the time being, is on children. To attempt to include all derivatives of bullying in legislation would render the matter too complex, he said.

Toward the end of Thursday's session, Dolynny introduced a motion that called for the GNWT to "establish a territory-wide campaign to denounce bullying, including cyber-bullying, and provide information and resources for schools, parents, victims and bystanders; And further, that the government review anti-bullying legislative measures being undertaken in other jurisdictions and bring forward a bill for consideration by this assembly within 18 months; and furthermore, that the government provide a comprehensive response to this motion within 120 days."

The motion was carried by the regular members, who voted unanimously in favour, while the seven ministers abstained, as is their custom. Dolynny said he or another member would introduce a private member's bill if the government did not respond within the requested time.

"Fundamentally to just celebrate this once a year and then put it away and say 'OK, what's the next project' - I mean this affects kids, adolescents and even adults forever ... The mental anguish that these people go through ... people are scarred for life," said Dolynny, about the impetus to raise the issue in the assembly.

Legislation would provide a coordinated approach across all school districts. "We've got to have some type of commonality amongst all our school systems," Dolynny said.

Teacher Carrie Heldman agreed. Legislation would ensure "any child can go to any school and know that what was expected at NJ is also expected at Range Lake is also expected at Deh Cho. So I think it's fantastic. I think the more that they push for it the more we'll stand behind and support them," she said.

The members' united front emphatically expressed their desire to have the issue taken seriously and given its due recognition. Members of the 17th assembly have only used this tactic once before, to call for action on an anti-poverty strategy during the first session.

Lafferty said his department was looking at legislation developed by other jurisdictions, such as Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, and said he would get back to the members within a year.

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