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October 15th, 2012, 08:40 GMT · By

Anti-Bullying Legal Motion Put Forward, in Response to Amanda Todd's Suicide

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Lawmakers in Canada are considering a bullying prevention strategy in response to Amanda Todd's suicide
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Lawmakers in Canada are considering a bullying prevention strategy in the House of Commons today, following the bullying-related suicide of Amanda Todd, on Wednesday.

Todd was found dead in her home in Port Coquitlam, after publishing a video on YouTube titled My Story: Struggling, bullying, suicide and self-harm, 5 weeks before. She had described her experience with cyber-bullying, by writing about the events on cards and holding them up to the camera.

Amanda had been tricked into taking her clothes off on webcam, by an unknown man who then went on to publish them on Facebook, creating a fake account in her name. Changing schools, getting beaten up by classmates and a suicide attempt followed for the teen, before she have up the fight and finally took her own life.

NDP MP Dany Morin is set to put forward a motion to prevent bullying in the future, with no national bullying prevention strategy existing in Canada at this point, CTV News Canada reports.

In response to B.C. Premier Christy Clark's proposal to criminalize bullying in Canada, Morin suggests charging the bullies is not the answer. Morin proposes prevention, and not persecution of bullies.

“I was bullied as a teenager. […] I know firsthand what bullying really is like. But when the harm has been done, when a kid has been bullied for years, bringing the criminal charges to the bully will not solve the problem. The harm has been done. That’s why I want the special committee to focus on prevention,” he said on Sunday.

Ottawa city councilor Allan Hubley has also lost a son to bullying-related suicide in 2011. He asks for lawmakers to stop putting together studies on the issue and enforce legal measures to stop bullying.

“We have a definition of bullying. We already know a lot of the resources that can help bullying. But the frontline resources that will help these kids when they need it most, at that moment they’re about to make that decision, they are underfunded. That’s where we need to put our energies and our efforts,” he advocates.


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READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: carm on 15 Oct 2012, 20:21 UTC reply to this comment

This is very said they need to press charges to the ones that cused her to die.


Comment #2 by: Bill Griffiths on 20 Oct 2012, 18:26 UTC reply to this comment

I too cry for Amanda. But bullying is not limited to the young. I am an older Canadian, also in British Columbia. I am being bullied by the government of my country. Why? Because I have shown too much integrity in supporting poor people in developing countries. People in the Government of Canada are deliberately and knowingly conspiring to conceal evidence of corrupt and criminal acts done by the Asian Development Bank. The ADB is partly owned and financed by the Government of Canada. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is on the Board of Governors and appoints a member of the Board of Executive Directors of ADB. I have proved the corrupt and criminal acts. The Government has the proof.
The acts of ADB, supported by this Government, have destroyed my reputation and in fact all aspects of my life. They have done damage to the people of one of the poorest countries of Asia. I have had to tell children in Asia that I was sending to school that they would have to leave school because my money is finished and I can no longer get work. The government of Canada said they would look into the ADB situation. They did not. I went to Ottawa but they would not meet or even talk with me, even though they know for a fact that what I say is true.
I do not want to seem opportunistic in suggesting a parallel with Amanda Todd’s situation, but I too am contemplating suicide, not as a way out, but as a way to bring attention to what this government is doing and to help to prevent further such bullying and abuse of power. I have nothing else left to lose. And in contemplating suicide, I am not a coward. I have sat as the only foreigner among groups of Afghani people along roadsides in rural Afghanistan, without knowing who was and was not Taliban.
Who is to set the example if people in our own government abuse their power and bully our citizens, all with impunity? I will be happy to give more information, including names, to any who have questions.


Comment #3 by: Anenrah on 08 Nov 2012, 14:35 UTC reply to this comment

If only the government spent time on real issues, not realizing something they neglected to do a long time ago was a problem. Fact is that it always was and always will be a problem no matter how much legal intervention occurs. Humans are hateful creatures. On a side note, I find it funny that Jesus died so that people like Amanda could kill themselves. Waste of a deity.

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