More than 300 high school students gathered Friday at the Prince George Civic Centre to celebrate the progress made on preventing bullying and other harmful behaviours in hallways and classrooms across northern B.C.
Prince George secondary school Grade 11 student Jemima Gabriel is deeply involved in the program as a member of the Ministry of Education's ERASE Bullying strategy advisory committee. (ERASE stands for Expect respect and a safe education).
"We advise government about what is happening in our schools and what kind of topics we need to focus on more," Gabriel said.
Work so far has been on developing a set of social media guidelines that are understandable to both students and teachers.
"If there is any bullying activity going on, what consequences it can lead to and how to prevent that kind of situation," Gabriel said.
Students who converged on the Civic Centre came armed with ideas for bullying prevention developed at their own schools. The best of those ideas will be gleaned and will help determine what to do next, Gabriel said.
The students also attended leadership building workshops and participated in a bullying-prevention panel discussion. The gathering is called the Northern ERASE Stand UP to Bullying Symposium.
In March, the Ministry of Justice provided a $100,000 civil forfeiture grant to Me to We - the celebrated non-profit organization headed by Craig and Marc Kielburger - to continue their Stand Up! leadership development program.
"The kids in northern B.C. are great and have done a phenomenal amount of work to create safe and respectful schools," said Jane Thornthwaite, the Minister of Children and Family Development's parliamentary secretary for child mental health and anti-bullying.
"They've taken the actions they've learned in ERASE bullying and Stand Up! and applied those strategies in their schools."
