Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Standing Committee on Social Programs recommends that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment:
1) review and build upon existing curricula and
practices related to bullying in schools across the NWT;
2) emphasize restorative processes in dealing with
bullying, dealing with root causes to the greatest extent possible;
3) provide counselling support for both victims and
perpetrators of bullying;
4) use a tiered approach to discipline, with
suspensions as a last resort;
5) provide schools the option of using in-school
suspensions to deal with bullying behaviour, and provide adequate resources to schools choosing this course;
6)
provide schools the option of adopting mandatory counselling for bullies, and provide adequate resources to schools choosing this course;
7) ensure that both large and small schools are
adequately resourced to provide counselling related to bullying and other matters;
8) the territorial code of conduct, safe schools
guidelines and regulations should be provided to the Standing Committee on Social Programs and other stakeholders in education for review and feedback in advance of their enactment;
9) the territorial code of conduct, safe schools
guidelines and school practices should empower bystanders to report bullying, and ensure protective measures are taken afterwards;
10)
research best practices and ensure that
responses to bullying are appropriate in cases involving students with special needs;
11) ensure accountability of parents in preventing
bullying and disciplining of bullies;
12) design and implement a territorial awareness
campaign, as directed in Motion 5-17(2). This should be a made-in-the-North campaign with strong northern content;
13) consider gender-specific approaches to bullying
prevention and awareness;
14)
to the extent practicable, ECE should stay abreast of website developments that pose risks to students, and provide an updated list to education authorities of those that should be blocked on school communication systems;
15) the Department of Health and Social Services
should add a link to the Kids Help Phone website to its My Voice, My Choice website; and
16)
immediately begin work on broader anti-
bullying legislation that addresses bullying in general society and cyberspace, beyond the school environment.
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to turn it over to our chair of the standing committee, Mr. Moses. Thank you.