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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A classroom of Grade 11 students at Sir John Franklin High School were invited to a panel discussion with MLAs on Wednesday morning to discuss bullying.

Sir John Franklin High School Grade 11 student Ariel Lowther told MLA's that suspensions won't do anything to deter bullies during a panel discussion at the school on Wednesday. MLAs were at the school to receive input from students on proposed changes to the territorial Education Act regarding bullying. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo

The discussion followed a public committee meeting at the legislative assembly Monday evening where MLAs talked about Bill 12: An Act to Amend the Education Act with Robert C. McLeod, minister responsible for youth, who was standing in for Education, Culture and Employment Minister Jackson Lafferty.

"The amendment to the Education Act is the fastest way for our government to let people know we're tired of the consequences of bullying," McLeod said at the Monday meeting. "The NWT is not going to tolerate this anymore."

The bill defines bullying as "aggressive and typically repeated behavior by a student" that causes "harm, fear or distress to another individual" and creates "a negative learning environment."

It calls for a school code of conduct to be created with disciplinary measures for bad behavior and a safe school plan to be made by each district's education authority.

There was also an amendment allowing educators to suspend students accused of bullying others for a period of up to 20 days.

"I know for a fact that suspensions did not work on bullies, but I don't know if anything would ever work. It is such a significant problem," said student Ariel Lowther on Wednesday. "Suspension would seem to the bullies more of a gift - they can relax at home."

Lowther's sentiments reflected those made Monday evening by Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny, who criticized the bill as "not having any teeth."

"We should be discussing fines or a longer suspension," Dolynny said. "A 20-day suspension is a vacation."

He referenced the Cyber-Safety Act, a Nova Scotia law which allows a person to file for a court order to stop someone from bullying online and allows judges to order the accused to not speak to, or about the victim online, according to the act passed May 10.

Education, Culture and Employment deputy minister Gabriela Eggenhofer said punishments aside from suspension had been considered, but harsher punishments such as fines would fall to the parents of the bullies, not the bullies themselves.

Yasemin Heyck, a counsellor at Range Lake North school who has worked with Yellowknife Education District No. 1 for 25 years, also stood against suspension as a form of punishment.

"We know suspensions are not effective. Kids go home to unsupervised environments and it's really disruptive for the teacher and the class when they return and are so far behind," Heyck said. "I think to use suspensions is to really go back in time."

Northwest Territories Teachers' Association president Gayla Meredith also spoke at the meeting. Her concern was that bullying is a societal issue, and shouldn't fall solely on the hands of educators to fix.

"Bullying is a sign of unresolved issues for the bullies. It's an indicator of unmet needs in the child," she said.

From that discussion, MLAs began to consider mandatory counselling for those accused of bullying, which was also shot down by Sir John Franklin students.

Only three or four students were willing to share their opinions on bullying, but when a show of hands was called by Dolynny asking who thought mandatory counselling would do nothing, almost all 25 hands went up.

"I don't see how forcing people to get counselling will work," Lowther said. "If someone's not open to sharing feelings, counselling isn't going to work. They won't be willing to talk or listen and won't take anything into consideration."

Lowther suggested in-school suspension as a form of punishment for bullies and said she'd seen it used at her old school in Ontario, before she moved to Yellowknife.

Another student, Ariel Stewart, said it's up to students to stand up for those who are being bullied or, at the very least, let them know it's not their fault.

"We need to own up to it. We're students, so we know each other," Stewart said. "We know who's bullied, and who bullies are, so there should be a lot us of trying to help (the bullied)."

The bill will go before the legislative assembly to be debated next month.

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