Bill 13 & 14

After completing our first ever anti-bullying program with the Youth Justice Services of Ontario and the West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre I was compelled to share my experiences. I also wanted to share my thoughts and opinions on Bills 13 & 14 and explain how the experience I had with the 12 kids I worked with, firmly cemented my opposition to them.

I'd like to start by thanking Davis, Alex, and Cynthia, from West Scarborough Neighbourhood Community Centre, for having the faith to allow me to come in and work with these kids. It is still completely unfathomable to me that these 12 kids I worked with (who were mainly all 13-15 years of age) were going to be formerly charged with criminal offences if it wasn't for this program. 

Before we get any further into the details of the program and its participants, I wanted to give you all a brief overview of Bills 13 & 14.

For those of you who are unaware Bill 13, the Safe Schools Act, and a Government Bill, was introduced by the Minister of Education, Laurel Broten, on behalf the of the Liberal Ontario government. 

Bill 14, the Anti-Bullying Act, was introduced as a Private Member’s Bill by Progressive Conservative MPP Elizabeth Witmer. Both bills were introduced on the same day, November 30, 2011, as each party attempted to legislatively address the issue in their own way.

The bills were never intended to complement each other. They were presented as alternative proposals. There is significant overlap between the bills, as each: addresses the same root issue; advances its own definition of bullying and cyber-bullying; proposes amendments for bullying reporting mechanisms; and, proposes an annual bullying awareness week.

However, Bill 13 goes much further by proposing additional and controversial amendments to the Education Act, such as potentially restricting access of religious congregations that rent school facilities for church services, requiring boards to implement equity and inclusive education policies and mandatory gay-straight alliance clubs.

Regardless of the definitions, both Bills set out to make bullying a crime, and both Bills dangerously tread on a violation of our Constitutional rights.

My initial stance on these proposed Bills is that they are absolutely ridiculous. How any citizen, parent, or future parent, could "sign on" to this initiative absolutely boggles the mind. I can somewhat understand how the parents of a victim of severe bullying would want retribution, or a scapegoat, but do we really want to start persecuting children who are not in control of their actions? If there is one thing I learned from this past weeks anti-bullying program its that all the kids had a very different side of the story, and when they described their lives outside of school I was amazed that some of them even made it to school period. If we can all accept that yesterdays bully can become today's victim, and vice versa, than we are in a position to make some positive change. When I was being interviewed on "The Scott Thompson Show" the other day he asked me specifically what my thoughts were on the criminalizing of bullying. I'll tell you the same thing I told him, "If anyone were to spend 10 minutes with these so-called bullies I am working with this week, they would never want a child charged with a crime, they would only want to help!"

In addition to that I pointed out how my other major struggle with the anti-bullying legislatures is the fact that we already have charges in our criminal code that address all the issues surrounding bullying. Would you not agree that assault, harassment, trespassing, and uttering a threat, all fall under the category of bullying? Are we forgetting that the main reason a child can not be charged as an adult is because of the fact that children are not aware of their actions? Children should be given the opportunity to make mistakes, several of them, and then its on all of us to ensure that they learn from their mistakes. The kids I spoke to this week had zero idea about the implications of their actions, and they had even less idea of the long term damage and effect it could have on them, the victim, and their lives. Kids want the chance to prove they can do better, but if they are afraid or have constantly been ignored, they are almost like a shy baby animal, they just want to run, hide, and display their toughness to intimidate you.

On top of the points I made about the existence of several charges that already address the issue at bullying, here are a few more that are less than 5 years old.

Bill 212, the Progressive Discipline and School Safety Act, received Royal Assent on June 4, 2007. It amended the Education Act to include bullying as a ground for which student suspension must be considered. Mandatory suspensions and expulsion would only be required in certain circumstances, for example, if a student gave alcohol to a minor or committed sexual assault. When responding to negative behaviour, principals would be required to consider “mitigating or other factors” such as if a student can understand the consequences of the behaviour, as well as the age and history of the student.

Bill 157, the Keeping our Kids Safe at School Act, received Royal Assent on June 5, 2009. It requires school staff to report incidents of bullying to the principal and intervene when a student is “behaving in a way that is likely to have a negative impact on the school climate.” Incidents of bullying must also be reported to the parents of the victim(s) as well as the parents of the bully, with some exceptions and with the principal’s discretion.

Policy/Program Memorandum No. 144 on Bullying Prevention and Intervention was issued on October 4, 2007 and requires Ontario school boards to “develop and implement policies on bullying prevention and intervention, and are required to have their policies in place by February 1, 2008.” Boards with existing policies were required to review them to ensure they were consistent with the memorandum. The policy also included a definition of “bullying”.

After reading all that do you really believe there is a need for an anti-bullying legislature, or maybe we are just coming up with another "band-aid" solution to our problems?

Getting back to the group of kids I worked with this past week, when I had one on one time with each participant I found it extremely challenging to remain composed and to not get overly emotional. How could anyone want to charge a 13 year old boy, who is being raised by his mother and 2 uncles, that has drug use all around him, they abuse him physically and verbally, and he believes that's how every ones home life is!?

If I've said it once I'll say it again, these kids need attention, love, respect, and support. If a child is struggling we must find out what is at the cause and then we must come up with a plan that can help this individual. Only after every option has been exercised should we even consider doing something so detrimental and with such finality, as to charge them and basically ruin their chances at a solid future.

I implore all of you to find out more about these legislatures and to do everything in your power to educate others and to have them tabled.

For more information on the programs we run and develop for all schools, community centres, and anywhere that children gather, please visit www.joshuastern.ca and don't hesitate to contact us at joshua@joshuastern.ca.