“Acknowledge that there is a need for stronger action to create a safe and inclusive environment”

-Bill 13, Accepting Schools Act

Bill 13, Accepting Schools Act from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario was created in the Education Act that deals with bullying and other matters to keep our schools safe (Minister of Education, 2012). This Bill is to, “Acknowledge that there is a need for stronger action to create a safe and inclusive environment in all schools, and to support all students, including both students who are impacted by and students who have engaged in inappropriate behaviour, to assist them in developing healthy relationships, making good choices, continuing their learning and achieving success,” (Minister of Education, 2012) which states the importance of schools intervening when inappropriate behaviour is occurring including bullying.

Supporting Arguments

“There have been other court cases, notably School District No. 44 (North Vancouver) vs. Jubran, (2005), where the B.C. Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada ruled the school board was liable because it had not done enough to stop the harassment of a student, Azmi Jubran,” (Findlay, 2011) was a case that occurred in which the Canadian government should and was held responsible for the bullying that was transpiring in their schools. This shows the seriousness that bullying has and the repercussions schools must face when not acknowledging that bullying was happening.

District Administration produced an article that states, “Districts can be held liable in court if they do not take action on known harassment, says Mariam Azin, an educational research psychologist and CEO and President of Mazin Education, a company that works with schools to assess, identify, and serve at-risk students,” (DeNisco, 2013) which discusses that district school boards need to be accountable for the actions that their students are taking in regards to bullying. “But there’s a lot of research that shows that kids can’t learn if they are not in a safe environment. You can’t separate the two,” (DeNisco, 2013) a statement made by Mariam Azin, an educational research psychologist that speaks towards the importance of having a bullying free school.