Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can see from the pink glow in the Chamber today that it’s Pink Shirt Day here and across Canada. For the second year in a row, NWT MLAs are acknowledging the importance of this initiative and, for the second year in a row, we’re not alone. Last year we were joined by Ms. Carrie Heldman and her Grade 5 class from N.J. Macpherson School. Ms. Heldman is back with the entire N.J. Macpherson Grade 4 to 6 student population to join us today and to highlight anti-bullying awareness along with the MLAs.
Since last year, the Anti-Bullying Campaign has gathered momentum across North America and across the NWT. NWT students, educators and education councils have developed and implemented strategies, awareness and resources to deal with the issue of bullying in our schools.
It’s tempting to put all the responsibility for addressing bullying onto the schools and educators, but we must accept that bullying takes place in all kinds of environments and all kinds of situations, not just schools. Bullying has to be considered in the larger context, the bigger picture. We cannot ignore the importance of addressing bullying in our society as a whole.
One area not spoken about where bullying does occur is in the workplace. Research tells us that at least 40 percent of all employees are affected by workplace bullying. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, “Many places of work, consciously or unconsciously, endorse, perhaps even encourage bullying behaviour. In fact, workplace bullies frequently get promoted or they are not dealt with directly as the workplace culture does not know how to address such behaviour.”
Three key actions that could stop bullying are recognizing bullying behaviour, speak out at the time that you encounter bullying, and stand by those who are being bullied and support them. Over the last couple of years we have spoken a lot about bullying of our young people at school or in cyberspace, but much needs to be done to highlight and profile workplace bullying as well. Strategies that work well in schools can be transferred to the workplace. To mention two possibilities: one, create a policy that allows employees to file a complaint about any workplace bullying that they are either experiencing or witnessing; two, create an anti-bullying program to teach employees how to recognize bullying behaviour and teach them about what their rights are under the new policy. By implementing an anti-bullying or safe workplace policy the GNWT can lead by example. In doing so,
we will improve not only our own workplaces but all workplaces in the NWT.
