Overview of Bullying

Bullying is a painful reality for a majority of Canadian children and youth, and Nunavut is not an exception.

Whether they are the ones being hurt, or the ones being aggressive towards others, children may find talking to adults about bullying difficult. Adult intervention is the key to bullying prevention; parents and educators alike need to be aware of the behaviors and emotional signs that children are being victimized or are using power aggressively. We all need to play a part in preventing bullying, whether it be in the school, the work place, the community or the home. We all have a role to play and I hope that you will join us as we work to “Stop Bullying Now! We can and we have to say stop!”

We have created three short videos on cyber bullying, physical bullying and social bullying, as well as a resource guide to be used by educators to assist them in providing information to youth on this sensitive topic. In the Resource Guide you will find activities to engage students from a range of grade levels and which can be adapted to the time that you have available. We encourage you to engage the whole school and community in bullying awareness.

You will note that the videos all have one person in common, our witness. This individual is a participant in the bullying behavior, but as the actions persist she comes to recognize the impact on the target of the bullying and steps forward at the end of each video to put an end to the bullying.

Our first video, This is Not a Comedy, deals with cyber bullying. With cyber bullying an individual may try to harm someone using online tools as they can be anonymous and the information can spread quite rapidly with little recourse for the target of the bullying. In the video you will see that Marissa is the bully and Kevin is the target. As you watch the video, look at the effects the bullying has on Kevin, Marissa and the other students laughing in the hallway.

Our second video, What’s the Day Today?, deals with the impact of physical bullying. In the video you will see, Nala is the bully and Jeremy is the target. As you watch the video look at the effects the bullying has on Jeremy.

Our final video is on social bullying and is called Rumour. Social bullying is an attempt to diminish a sense of self through ignoring, isolating, excluding, shunning, or in this case, spreading rumours. It is used to convince peers to exclude or reject a certain person or people and cut the targeted person off from their social connection; girls are most commonly targeted, although both genders report bullying equally. You will see that Jennifer is the bully and Malaya is the target. As you watch the video, look at the effects the bullying has on Malaya. And, you will again see the actions that our witness takes.

To learn more, download the Bullying Awareness Week Resource Guide.