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.
History
2004 Campaign, November 15–22 – Take the Pledge
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.
