Bullying incident disturbs community

Community members have been reacting with shock to news of a bullying incident that took place between children during a Winter Carnival event last Friday, with video of the event allegedly being circulated by those involved after it happened.

“I’ve been thinking about it since last Friday when I saw it, and I’m still not able to come to the proper terms to express how unfortunate this situation is,” said Roiahtate Horn, director of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK)’s Sports and Recreation Unit (SRU).

The incident took place in the dressing room area of the Sports Complex during the Kahnawake Youth Center (KYC)’s Family Skating event, part of the organization’s Winter Carnival schedule. The Night Market and Family Dance were also taking place at the Sports Complex that evening.

Many have been left wondering how the incident could have been prevented and debating what should be done to address the actions of those involved.

According to a source close to the victim who has viewed the footage of what happened, there are two videos of the event, which show two girls attacking the victim, a boy.

The videos depict both verbal and physical violence against the victim, the source said and are graphic in nature.

“It was awful. I just opened my phone and saw the video and started crying, just shaking,” the source said. “I couldn’t process what I was seeing, I was just so mad. I wanted to run over to the arena in my pyjamas. It was extremely distressing.”

The Eastern Door is choosing to keep the source anonymous to preserve the privacy of the victim.

Kahnawake Peacekeepers spokesperson Kyle Zachary confirmed that the incident involved two girls and one boy, and that all those involved were under 12 years of age.

He said that the Peacekeepers were contacted the day after the event, and that they would be collaborating with KSCS to address the situation.

The MCK and KSCS both made public announcements concerning the bullying. KYC executive director Kyle Zacharie said that KYC would not be following suit.

“We’re not making any public statement about this because this is an isolated incident. You have to remember that we deal with youth and teenagers and the entire community all the time, and unfortunately bullying issues happen all the time within the community,” said Zacharie.

“The KYC has always had an open-door policy, and people are more than welcome to come in and talk, whether it’s with myself as the executive director or any of my program managers.”

Zacharie said KYC has reviewed its policies and procedures and will be including extra staff at the remaining Family Skating events, the last of which is on February 28. He also said that KYC has spoken with the SRU and arranged for them to shut the locker rooms, since participants only need to use the benches to put their skates on.

Minors also need to be accompanied by adults when they come to the Sports Complex - something Horn said that the SRU is planning to underscore in its updated zero tolerance policy on bullying, currently in the approval process.

Until now, Horn said, things have typically been handled on a case-by-case basis, and that expectations are different depending on who is using the facilities.

He said that each sport has its own rules and regulations to follow, for example hockey abides by Hockey Quebec regulations, and lacrosse by Ontario Lacrosse Association regulations.

Arena staff, which include the rink attendants that handle Zamboni, janitorial, and to an extent security duties, as well as the pro shop worker who supports the rink attendant, both play a role in keeping an eye on what’s going on at the arena, but it can be hard to monitor busy events by private renters, as was the case last Friday.

“It’s sort of the renter’s responsibility to ensure what’s happening in the dressing rooms as well. I’m not passing the buck by any means, but when it comes to an event like this where let’s say the Youth Center is, in theory, a private renter, they along with our arena staff should be watching what’s happening in the building, on the ice session, and in the changing rooms,” he said.

KSCS’s team leader of primary prevention, Kyla Jacobs, said that it’s essential the entire community play their own part in helping youth understand how harmful bullying can be.

“I think these are discussions that are really important for us to have as parents with our children. They really need to understand the impacts of their actions and the only true place that they’ll learn that is at home,” she said.

She said that this is not the first time a serious bullying incident has happened in Kahnawake, and it likely won’t be the last.

“It’s not a one-time discussion, it’s ongoing, and it’s important we remember that when things happen, they’re watching how we handle it,” she said.

That applies to parents, community members, and community organizations, Jacobs said.

“It’s really important for all of our organizations to address it,” she said. “We need these conversations to happen and to be able to follow up with families.”

The MCK also publicly denounced the incident, and MCK chief Jeremiah Johnson said he was disgusted when he was shown the video.

“We need to put money and effort into educating people, helping our youth understand that it’s up to them to go into the world and represent themselves, their parents, and their community when they’re in public.”

He said that bullying is not a political issue but a social one.

“It’s up to all organizations that can do something to do something about it,” he said.

Zacharie also said community members should not publicize the video.

“Sharing the video is a form of cyberbullying in itself,” he said. “If we’re talking about anti-bullying and bullying prevention, not sharing the video or calling down the youth or their parents or anybody is a form of anti-bullying.”

Community member Timmy Norton said that he expects many local reactions to the incident are a result of people’s own experiences with bullying, having been thrown back to his own memories of being bullied when he heard the news.

“I was angry at first at the girls involved but I have to put that aside and hope that they learn from this and don’t repeat their actions again, they need to heal also,” he said.

“The impact is felt across the community especially for other kids, but unfortunately, we only hear when it’s this public. There is bullying going on I’m sure that we don’t see, bullying also occurs in workplaces.”

The anonymous source close to the victim said that despite the pain of the incident, it’s been meaningful to see the community response.

“I’m really glad to see a lot of the community stand up against the bullying and make sure that this hopefully doesn’t happen again,” she said.

“As I assured him on Saturday, it’s not normal what happened, and a lot of people were upset, and he’s allowed to be upset too.”

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