Bullying Awareness Week

Bullying Awareness Week is a national campaign in Canada conceived of by Canadian educator and Bullying.org president Bill Belsey. It was launched in 2003 by Family Channel and bullying.org. The campaign takes place during the third week each November and aims to raise awareness about bullying amongst students in Canada while promoting positive relationships and providing youth with real-life solutions to help them deal with bullying behaviour.

Bullying Awareness Week is recognized in communities across Canada. In 2009 the week was officially recognized by the city of Calgary.

The 2004 campaign included a week of special programming on Family Channel; the launch of a new Public Service Announcement (PSA), called “The Cool Table”, demonstrating the part that bystanders can play in remedying bullying; and an interactive website where Canadians could “Take the Pledge” as well as tell their stories of standing up to bullying. Schools across Canada also held events and organized initiatives during the week and throughout the school year, to stop bullying and draw awareness to the part that bystanders play. The pledge is taken 175,000 times.

Family Channel Stars involved: Raven-Symoné That’s So Raven, Kate Todd Radio Free Roscoe, Nathan Stephenson Radio Free Roscoe, Ali Mukaddam, Radio Free Roscoe.

Premieres: Beautiful Girl, Original Movie

In 2005, Family Channel and bullying.org expanded the campaign to address teachers and parents in addition to Canadian youth. A Teacher’s Guide was developed in part with the Canadian Initiative for the Prevention of Bullying (CIPB). The guide was distributed to all English-language schools in Canada. Additional campaign resources included two new Public Service Announcements titled “Alone” and “The Pledge” these aired on Family Channel in addition to “The Cool Table” PSA from 2004.

For the fourth consecutive year, Family Channel and Bullying.org Canada worked together to institute national Bullying Awareness Week. The campaign became “Stand UP!”. Family Channel began holding rallies in schools across Canada. Over 10,000 kids nominated their school as a venue for the Stand UP! rally. Three were selected: George Waters Middle School; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Ruth King Elementary School; Victoria, British Columbia, and Covenant Glen Catholic School; Ottawa, Ontario. Stand UP! cuffs were available online at family.ca and at La Senza Girl with proceeds going to Bullying.org. Additional campaign resources included a new PSA featuring Life with Derek star Michael Seater.

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Wikipedia