LGBT Rights in Ontario Schools

Scenario:

Mark is a 17 year old student who attends a co-educational high school. Having ‘come-out’ to his school about his sexual orientation, he takes pride in being gay. Yet life hasn’t been so easy for him. Constantly teased by his peers, he feels ostracized by former friends and shunned by his classmates. One day, he finds his locker vandalized and covered in insults. To make matters worse, one of his teachers strongly urges Mark to keep quiet on his identity in order to prevent the escalating reactions. Finding support neither from peers nor a trusted teacher, Mark grows increasingly insecure.

What are Mark’s rights? What can he do?

The rights of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Canadians are well protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code, as well as under Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

Recently, in June 2012, the Ontario government introduced anti-bullying legislation, known as Bill 13 or the Accepting Schools Acts 2012 that addresses bullying in publicly funded schools. This law came into force in September 2012 and is now valid and enforceable. The Act creates legal obligations for school boards and schools to prevent bullying, issue tougher consequences for bullying, and support students who want to promote understanding and respect for all. The preamble of the law recognizes that:

“[E]veryone — government, educators, school staff, parents, students and the wider community — has a role to play in creating a positive school climate and preventing inappropriate behaviour, such as bullying, sexual assault, gender-based violence and incidents based on homophobia, transphobia or biphobia”

This Act requires all school boards to support students who want to lead activities or organizations that promote the awareness and understanding of and respect for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, including organizations with the name gay-straight alliance or another name. One important part of the law is that all schools must now allow students to form Gay-Straight-Alliances (GSAs). These groups are geared towards fighting homophobia in schools. They offer support to students who may be dealing with issues and challenges related to their sexual and/or gender identity.

Mark shouldn’t feel as if he can’t express himself. He could go speak to the Principal of his school, another teacher, his parents or someone he trusts. He has rights that should be protected and under the new Accepting Schools Act, must be protected. All students have the right to feel safe and supported in school.

For more information on Bill 13, the Accepting Schools Act: http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2549

If you have specific legal questions relating to bullying, please contact JFCY at 416.920.1633

If you are a victim of bullying and need support, check out some of these organizations:

•   Kids Help Phone: www.kidshelpphone.ca 1 800 668 6868

•   LGBT Youth line: www.youthline.ca 1.800.268.9688 

•   Bullying Canada: http://www.bullyingcanada.ca/content/239672 1-877-352-4497  

For more on Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA): http://mygsa.ca

If you want to find out more about bullying and how you can help raise awareness and 

prevent bullying, you can look at some of these websites:

•   Web Aware on www.bewebaware.ca

•   Canadian Safe Schools Network on www.canadiansafeschools.com

•   http://www.definetheline.ca/

•   www.bullying.org

•   www.wiredsafety.org 

•   www.stopcyberbullying.org

The scenario for this post was written by Cydney Kim a JFCY volunteer on the PLE Team.  Cydney is in grade 12 at University of Toronto Schools. The legal info was written by Lauren Grossman, a first-year law student at U of T who is volunteering at JFCY through her law school’s Pro Bono Students Canada program. All info was reviewed by a JFCY staff lawyer.

New Bullying Law

The Ontario government has passed the Accepting Schools Act, a new bullying law that aims to better protect students from bullying in publicly funded schools.

One important part of the law is that now all schools must allow students to form Gay-Straight-Alliances (GSAs), groups that are geared towards fighting homophobia and trans-phobia in schools as well as supporting students who may be dealing with issues of coming out and other challenges and triumphs related to their sexual and/or gender identity.

JFCY is pleased with this new law.  All students have the right to feel safe and supported in school.

To read Bill 13 click here.

On a related note, last week JFCY participated in the LGBTQ Youth Suicide Prevention Summit, a two day conference geared towards developing a strategy to address the high numbers of suicidality among queer and trans youth..  The value and importance of GSAs was part of these discussions.  For more info,  click here.

For more on GSAs click here!

Bullying in the news: consequences and responses

The description of the news article below and the "Afterthought" are the opinions of  Deby Ko, a volunteer member of JFCY's PLE Team and JFCY's bullying sub-committee.  The information about the proposed Ontario legislation is by JFCY.

Bullying in the News - By JFCY volunteer Deby Ko

Current news indicates how severe bullying can be and how bullying can lead to terrifying results.  In Fall 2011, the Toronto Sun reported that Mitchell Wilson committed suicide. Mitchell was 11-years-old and he had muscular dystrophy, a disease which weakens muscles over time.  Mitchell was heavily bullied. 

Mitchell’s challenges began when a 12-year-old mugged him.  When his attacker was arrested, his friends started following Mitchell home and bullying him on why he was bringing the young offender to court.

With the taunts and bullying, Mitchell no longer did the same amount of exercise he had in the past.  soem could argue that this made his illness develop faster, so that he had to use a wheelchair all of the time.  His mental state was also extremely vulnerable. The Sun described the changes in Mitchell’s mental state: “Mitchell stopped sleeping and began suffering anxiety attacks. He told his family he’d rather kill himself than go back to school where he was being bullied.”

Despite being counseled and assigned a protector at school, Mitchell no longer was the same person he used to be. He had ongoing stresses because of his illness and because his court date against his attacker was approaching.  Before his first day of grade 6, Mitchell ended his life.

For more information on the article please visit:

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/22/boy-bullied-to-death-dad-says

Afterthought - by JFCY volunteer Deby Ko

It’s terrifying how physical attacks followed by verbal attacks can lead to such traumatic results. Despite being counseled by his school and accompanied by a protector, Mitchell could no longer act the way he used to. Sometimes people think that kids need to face bullying on their own, but it is important for kids who have been bullied to talk with someone about the situation.  This can help to relieve some anxiety. People you can turn to may be friends, family, teachers or other people that you trust.  If you don’t want to turn to others, you can try writing your feelings on a blog or diary entry, either to help other people who are going through the same thing as you online or just to relieve some anxiety you may have. Joining extracurricular activities can also help you confront your fears when you have more friends by your side listening to any problems you may have.

If you have bullied someone, you have to know that what you have done can have a lasting effect on someone and that there may be long-lasting consequences for you, too.

School bullying and the law - by JFCY

Every province in Canada has the power to make laws about education in that province.  In Ontario, the Education Act applies to public and separate (Catholic) schools.  This year, the Ontario government introduced a bill to change the Education Act.  A bill is a proposed law that must be debated by government and voted on.  If a majority of the elected representatives to a province’s legislature vote for a bill, then it becomes law.  The bill that the Ontario government is proposing is supposed to help address bullying in school.  The goal of the law would be to help make sure that students feel safe in school, because all students deserve to feel safe and included.  Feeling safe at school is also important to being able to succeed in school.  The introduction to the bill, which is called a preamble, talks specifically about making schools more inclusive for LGBTTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, two-spirited, intersexed, queer and questioning) people, because a lot of bullying in school is based on someone's perceived sexual identity.  Another important part of the bill is that it recognizes that both people who bully and people who are bullied need to be supported in making good choices and developing healthy relationships.

So what will the bill do if passed?

The bill defines bullying.  Legal definitions are important because people depend on them when they are trying to understand what is included in a law.  For example, one part of the bill says that school boards must consider expelling a student who has previously been suspended for bullying.  Whether or not a student’s behaviour is classified as bullying according to the definition in the law could make a difference to what consequences the student faces for his or her actions.

The bill also makes school boards and schools responsible for working to prevent bullying. For example, schools have to include rules to help prevent bullying in their codes of conduct.  School boards will be required to have guidelines and policies on a wide range of topics relating to bullying and other forms of inappropriate behaviour.  Some examples of the guidelines and policies that are required include which consequences should be considered for students who engage in inappropriate behaviour, what strategies can be used to prevent bullying, and what training relating to bullying should be provided to teachers and staff at a school.  

Finally, the bill also proclaims Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week as the third week in November, and it requires school boards to support students who want to lead activities or organizations that “promote gender equity, anti-racism, the awareness and understanding of, and respect for, people with disabilities or the awareness and understanding of, and respect for, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.” 

Check out the bill here.

See the current Education Act. 

Bullying Resources

If you have specific legal questions relating to bullying, please contact JFCY at 416.920.1633

If you are a victim of bullying and need support, check out some of these organizations:

• Kids Help Phone at 1 800 668 6868 or on www.kidshelpphone.ca
• LGBT Youth line at 1.800.268.9688 or on www.youthline.ca

If you want to find out more about bullying and how you can help raise awareness and prevent bullying, you can look at some of these websites:

• Web Aware on www.bewebaware.ca
• Canadian Safe Schools Network on www.canadiansafeschools.com
• http://www.definetheline.ca/
• www.bullying.org
• www.wiredsafety.org
• www.stopcyberbullying.org

There is a list of books and other resources on blocking and dealing with cyber-bullying as well as other forms of bullying on this website: http://www.cheo.on.ca/En/bullying

Here at JFCY, the cyber-bullying sub-committee wants to know all about your thoughts on this post. Please let us know if this post is helpful and/or informative and what you would like to see in future posts. Post your comments, questions, requests and ideas as they are extremely valuable to us and will help us better understand what to write about in our next post.  Our comments are moderated, so if you do not want your comment published to the blog, just say so when you submit it. Or you could email us at jfcyontario@gmail.com.

Gay-straight alliances in schools

Read this Xtra article to learn more about what is happening in Toronto

If you are a student and what to learn more about the law around this, please call us at Justice for Children and Youth: 416.920.1633.