OTTAWA – The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has completed an update of its paper By the Numbers: Rates and Risk Factors for Bullying: A Brief Examination of Canadian Bullying Statistics. The paper provides an overview of bullying trends in Canada, the reported frequencies of bullying behaviours, risk factors for bullying and children’s and adults’ perspectives on bullying and criminalization of the behaviour. The updated version includes the most recent statistics available as well as an overview of anti-bullying legislation that has been introduced across the country.
“Several provinces have legislated or are now proposing legislating on the issue of school bullying. If Canadians are going legislate on certain behaviours, it is essential to use current and accurate information on the issue,” explains Faye Sonier, EFC Legal Counsel. “A recent series of tragic teen suicides has brought the issue to the forefront of Canadians’ minds.”
“When we started reviewing the Ontario bills 13 and 14 we realized that Canadian data on bullying was hard to come by, so we decided to undertake a research project on this issue, which led to the report we released in April 2012,” states Don Hutchinson, EFC Vice-President and General Legal Counsel. “The Manitoba government’s introduction of Bill 18, the Safe and Inclusive Schools Act, led to this latest update. The data reveals some surprising findings.”
“While we might think from the media coverage that children are most often bullied for reasons relating to sexual orientation or gender identity, students are actually most frequently bullied, both in traditional forms of aggression as well as through cyber-bullying, for three primary reasons: body image or appearance; school grades or marks; and cultural background and race,” elaborates Hutchinson. “One survey showed that body image alone accounted for 38% of cases of bullying, grades or marks accounted for 17% and cultural background for 11%.”
“The data also revealed that students are very much aware of the damaging aspects of bullying and consider it to be a problematic form of aggression within their schools,” states Sonier. “In fact, 88% of students shared in one survey that bullying was ‘a major problem in their school.’ Additionally, 50% of adults said they remembered being bullied in school, and 30% think the abuse they suffered had a lasting and harmful effect.”
“Additionally, a 2012 poll revealed adults believe that bullying occurs through all stages of life and 84% thought that bullying should be considered a crime,” continues Sonier. “This is very distinct from the anti-bullying legislation currently before the Manitoba legislature, which would only amend The Public Schools Act and address bullying behaviours that take place in schools.”
“We believe that every child is made in God’s image and is of inestimable worth, deserving of dignity and respect,” concludes Hutchinson. “We believe that no child should be bullied, marginalized or suffer discrimination for any reason. And we believe that if we’re going to reduce bullying in Canada, we need to make good decisions based on good data. Any measure should be inclusive and considerate of every child, bullied for any reason.”
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For more information or an interview contact:
Anita Levesque, Media Relations
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada
(613) 233-9868 x325
MediaRelations@theEFC.ca