The fight against bullying took a ‘deeply disappointing’ turn on Nov. 21, according to Springbank Middle School teacher Bill Belsey.
A motion was put forward in the House of Commons by NDP MP Dany Morin to develop an anti-bullying strategy to determine how best to combat the epidemic on a national level. The motion was turned down by a vote of 149-134.
“I think those who voted this down,” said Belsey, “number one, didn’t do their homework, and number two, either voted because of some party whip telling them to do a certain thing for who knows what reasons.”
Belsey compared the decision to what teachers like him have to deal with several times throughout the school year; something he called teachable moments, where a lesson plan is essentially thrown out the window.
“Teachers who are far wiser than me jump on those opportunities…they seize them,” he explained, saying that what he saw occur in the House of Commons was a leadership moment that was completely missed. They say, ‘you know what…this is where the hearts and minds of my students are.’”
Belsey said the research into bullying proves that when a government develops a strategy to combat behavior, much like Norway has, that reductions in bullying follow.
“We have come to, what I believe, is a tipping point…bullying is a behavior,” said Belsey, comparing it to other behaviors in Canada, such as smoking, drinking and driving and recycling. “Those are all behaviors that have slowly but surely changed for the better here in Canada. Are they eliminated? No. Have they gotten much better? Yes they have. There was a leadership moment here that was missed.”
Belsey said that he is not a political man, but that he believes Morin brought forward the bullying motion, not for his moment in the spotlight, but for genuine reasons.
“I know some people who are deeply jaded will say a politician never does anything without wanting to have their name and ego all over the place,” said Belsey, “but I’ve talked with him…I really sincerely believe his intentions here were honourable.”
Belsey spoke with Morin during a visit to Parliament Hill in December, 2011, when he met with the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights about bullying. Later that year in June, Belsey’s Grade 8 language arts class made a presentation via video-phone to the panel of senators on cyberbullying, which Belsey was told was the first time a group of students had made such a demonstration to a senate committee.
During Belsey’s conversation with Morin, the Quebec MP had iterated his own experiences with bullying, and that he was able to relate to those who are victims of the act.
Those who voted against the anti-bullying motion indicated that it overlapped with the efforts of the senate committee, who have recently completed a study on bullying and will release a report on the matter soon.
Belsey has repeatedly urged for better training for teachers to deal with bullying in their classrooms, an effort he had not yet seen anyone move on. The need for parents to be vigilant and for Internet providers to uphold their own anti-bullying policies is also important. Belsey, a Cochrane resident, also wants more research done on an anti-bullying strategy to better determine what areas need to be addressed.
“Let’s find out what’s going well,” he said, “let’s find out who’s showing good leadership, let’s find out who’s doing good things and let’s support those good things.”
The fact that there is an indication that bullying is slowly on the decline in Canada is one bright spot thus far.
“Imagine what we could do if we had the proper resources and an actual national plan in place…we could do so much more,” said Belsey. “This is an issue that Canadians were affected by. Their hearts were hurt by it.”
For more information on bullying visit cyberbullying.ca and bullying.org.
