Earlier today, Caitlin Cleveland, the current Minister of Education, Culture, and Employment for the NWT, released a few statements for Pink Shirt Day.
The original Pink Shirt Day was first organized in 2007, when two Grade 12 students in Nova Scotia bought and handed out fifty pink shirts around their school, after they learned that a Grade 9 student was bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school. Since then, pink shirts have become a symbol for the cause of reducing and stopping bullying in schools across the country, and around the world.
Cleveland began her statement with a simple request, asking Northerners to always promote safe environments for all people, every day.
She notes that bullying is something that takes place not just in schools, but in workplaces and online spaces as well. It can take many forms, being based on age, race, religion, sexuality, gender, and physical appearance.
“In Canada and beyond, 2SLGBTQQIA+ youth face disproportionately high rates of bullying, homophobia, and erosion of rights – a trend that is showing no sign of slowing down but one that we must take a stand against.”
She goes on to say that Pink Shirt Day reminds us to take a stand against bullying in all of its forms, and to eliminate it at its sources. It reminds us to celebrate the diversity of our friends and neighbours.
“On Pink Shirt Day – and every day – let’s choose kindness and lift each other up.”
