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A14 www.castlegarnews.com
Thursday, February 20, 2014 Castlegar News
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Castlegar News Thursday, February 20, 2014
www.castlegarnews.com A15
Bullying Stops Here.
WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SHORT SLEEVE. Join the cause and buy a pink shirt at London Drugs or at
www.facebook.com/lisasgiftbox
Please stop by to see our new show room. FEBRUARY 26, 2014
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Proceeds benefi t anti-bullying programs in BC.
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A proud supporter of Pink Shirt Day and anti bullying
SUPPORTERS:
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2240 - 6 Ave. Castlegar, BC 250.365.2175
Katrine Conroy, MLA Kootenay West • 250-304-2783 katrine.conroy.mla@leg.bc.ca www.katrineconroy.ca
PINKSHIRTDAY.CA Wednesday, February 26/14
Putting a stop to bullying on Pink Shirt Day… Monday - Saturday 7am - 5pm
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Kerry Vital / Black Press Names such as Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons are sadly well-known to many Canadians. Both teens committed suicide after years of bullying at the hands of classmates. On Feb. 26, Canadians will recognize Pink Shirt Day, a day devoted to preventing bullying and helping children and teens who are being victimized. For some people, bullying hits very close to home. Tad Milmine, now an RCMP constable, is one of them. As a child, Milmine was bullied relentlessly by classmates and locked in the basement by his stepmother every day for 12 years. His father, an alcoholic, never tried to help him, even when Milmine’s stepmother verbally abused him. “I always held out hope that one day an adult would see that I was in the basement and perhaps ‘rescue’ or ‘save’ me,” he says. “No one ever came.” At 17, Milmine ran away from home and cut all ties with his father and stepmother. Still, he struggled with being extremely introverted and emotional. While he had dreamed of being a police officer for much
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of his life, he didn’t feel confident enough to act on that dream. At 33, he finally felt able to take that step and do what he loved after encouragement from an officer he met while playing baseball. “I never acted on my dream because I truly believed it was just a dream,” he says. “I thought that dreams weren’t meant to be achieved.” Milmine was moved by the 2011 suicide of Ontario teen Jamie Hubley, who killed himself after years of bullying for being gay and a figure skater, to start Bullying Ends Here, a website that tells Hubley’s story as well as his own. Milmine has travelled all over Canada and the U.S. speaking to students and encouraging them to contact him if they need help. In the presentations, he shares his own story and that of Hubley, and tells the students that he understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and that he too is gay, just like Hubley. He shares this information to point out that he is no different than the people listening to him in the audience. “I never let my sexuality stand in the way of living out a dream,” Milmine says. “I never let the negativity while growing up stand in my way.” Milmine’s presentations are done on his own time and with his own money. “I always wanted to ‘help’ people and today I am lucky enough to be in that position,” says
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The dangers of Ask.fm Tad Milmine
Milmine. “Youth need to know that nobody can help them if they don’t speak up. You have to share, have to ask for help. Give us a chance to help.” Sixty-four per cent of Canadian children have been bullied at school at some point, according to the Pink Shirt Day campaign, and 40 per cent of Canadian employees are bullied at the workplace on a weekly basis. “Pink Shirt Day gets people talking,” Milmine says. “People are talking about it leading up to it, and on the day itself. You’re going to talk about why you’re wearing a pink shirt that day, and youth are reminded of the resources available to them.” Pink Shirt Day was started in Nova Scotia by two teenage boys who, after seeing another male student bullied for wearing a pink shirt, decided to gather their friends and all wear pink to school. CKNW AM 980 was inspired by their action, and since 2007 has raised over $650,000 for anti-bullying programs in B.C. through the sale of their pink shirts. You can purchase your own shirt at London Drugs or online. This year’s campaign is being presented by Coast Capital Savings, with Black Press as a media partner. For more information about Pink Shirt Day, visit www.pinkshirtday.ca. Milmine’s website can be found at www.bullyingendshere.ca.
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The website and smartphone app Ask.fm is a social-networking site where people can ask other users questions. It’s extremely popular with pre-teens and teens, but recently it has become wellknown for facilitating cyber-bullying instead. It has been referenced in several suicide cases around the world as part of the bullying the victim experienced that led to their suicide. The biggest issue with Ask.fm is that questions can be submitted anonymously, and content is not monitored, so abuse of the service can be rampant with no repercussions to the user. Even if someone is blocked, that person can still view profiles and see other interactions, and privacy settings cannot be increased as they can on Facebook and Twitter. According to RCMP Const. Tad Milmine, the Latvia-based website also sends daily spam with messages suggesting users kill themselves and calling them ugly, among others, with no name attached. Parents are urged to monitor all social media accounts and talk to their children about their online activities in an effort to prevent cyberbullying, and remember that the terms of service of Facebook, Twitter and Ask.fm require users to be at least 13.
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635 Columbia Ave. Castlegar,BC
1217 3rd St. Castlegar, B.C.
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420 Columbia Ave. Castlegar, BC
250.304.2666