Q&A: Dalton McGuinty’s new anti-bullying legislation

TORONTO – Premier Dalton McGuinty unveiled new anti-bully legislation on Wednesday morning.

The legislation is meant to curb the growing amount of bullying related cases in Ontario by enforcing tougher punishment on bullies. Just over a month after the suicide of 15-year-old Jamie Hubley – the Ottawa boy who killed himself after being bullied – the legislation will allow gay-straight alliances at all Ontario public schools.

Global News spoke with bullying expert, Debra Pepler, Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Health and Department of Psychology at York University about the new legislation, its successes and pitfalls, and the lasting effects that bullying can have on individuals and society.

What are your initial thoughts on Dalton McGuinty’s new anti-bullying legislation?

I was on the committee that developed the legislation for years, so I’m quite familiar with it. Honestly, I think we have some very good legislation in Ontario that deals with bullying, harassment and abuse. We did three separate reports over several years and I think that the legislation is excellent. I think the policy is excellent. I think the framing is excellent. I think there is a significant gap between the policy and the practice.

What is the gap between the policy and the practice?

Well, I think that we have - on paper - what needs to happen, that all children have the right to be safe at school and that teachers and principals are responsible for that. And that they need to, when a child comes forward and identifies that they’ve been victimized, they need to follow through on it, they need to provide support to the child who’s been victimized but they also need to provide – what’s called progressive discipline – which is positive, educational, consequences to the youth who is doing the bullying.

What is progressive discipline?

It starts with educational consequences. It teaches youth what they’ve done wrong, why it’s wrong, and how to do it differently next time. It might provide them with opportunities to think differently about the impact of their behaviour on others. It might help them think about positive versus negative types of leadership. It might give them opportunities to help out younger children so that they can see that you don’t just get status by being negative, you also can get it by being very positive. It might require a student to write a letter of apology. It might require a student to develop a presentation on why bullying is hurtful. They are many, many ways in which we can help children learn the things they haven’t learned - Which is essentially that hurting others is destructive and it’s not the way to carry on in relationships. It doesn’t work when you’re young, it doesn’t work when you’re in a marriage, it doesn’t work as a parent, and it doesn’t work in business. So it’s a really important lesson. We don’t want to exclude them from educational contexts, because they need the most education, around how this is working, so I think what’s not evident in the legislation is when students are expelled from school there are alternative schools that they can go to, or alternative classrooms. The alternative classrooms are resourced with mental health support and counselling support and other kinds of support.

Is there lasting effects involved in bullying? 


It’s a very detrimental pathway. In our own research we know that students who bully in elementary and high school – we followed youth from the time they were in grade 5, 6 and 7, for seven years until they were in grade 11, 12 and it was the last days of grade 13 - the youth who bully at a high rate across that period of time, are at high risk for being physically aggressive with their dating partner – so they hit and slap them and are physically aggressive. They sexually harass others at an extremely high rate. So these young people are on a crash course, not only for adolescence but throughout their lifespan.

The new legislation seems to lean toward harsher punishments for those who bully.

Well we already have, in the legislation, an opportunity to suspend and I would believe, expel - I would have to go back and look at the fine print. The difficulty that I have with that is that, these young people are the people in our society who are at greatest risk of not having safe and healthy relationships. The cost to society of having these young people continue on the pathway of learning how to use aggression and power to get what they want is hugely detrimental and school may be the last opportunity to have them in a constructive context. Where we have the opportunity to teach them the various skills they haven’t learned and the understanding that they haven’t learned. And often these young people come from, environments where they haven’t been taught these incredibly important skills – the basis of being in relationships.

Is there similar legislation elsewhere?

Yes there is. For example, New Jersey has just developed legislation that not only speaks about the consequences for children who bully but if teachers don’t report it - when they know bullying has occurred - they can be dismissed. So we have similar legislation here that teachers have to report it. And that is so the principal will know who’s at risk and who needs help, which youth are starting down this pathway and lets us stop them as soon as we can.

Is this type of legislation working?

It's just starting, I think the trouble with some legislation is that it solves some problems, but by doing so, it creates others and I’m not sure firing teachers is a right way to get teachers to ensure that there is open communication over which children are involved in bullying.

 

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