Kanesatake marks Pink Shirt Day

Students and staff donned pink apparel for Pink Shirt Day at Ratihén:te High School and Rotiwennakéhte Elementary School this past week.

Pink Shirt Day, an annual campaign to raise awareness about bullying, first begun in 2007 and helps schools highlight the problems and solutions to bullying.

The small size of both local schools gives them the advantage of quickly handling instances of bullying in the school community, said Kimberly Simon, Ratihén:te principal.

“We have a zero tolerance for any type of behaviours, comments that exclude students or make them feel bad about themselves,” said Simon. “And because of our small nature, we’re able to address things pretty promptly and to also be proactive, in some cases, to prevent situations from worsening or occurring.”

At Ratihén:te, a grade 11 media student designed the logo for this year’s pink shirt, which was bought by Kanesatake Health Center (KHC) for their staff and some members of the community before they sold out. All proceeds go towards the grade 11 graduation.

The shirt is fluorescent pink and features a drawing of a bear surrounded by flowers and foliage in a circle, with the words, “friendship” and “it takes one mind” in Kanienʼkéha, said Claudia Flynn, the school science teacher.

The high school also had an anti-bullying event presented by Epique, an organization that offers training to parents and schools on a variety of topics including behaviour management.

“He talked a lot about respect. He started off by talking about, ‘you owe yourself the respect to not be disrespectful’, how it’s both inwards and outwards, and how bullying begins by that lack of respect,” said Flynn. “I think it really resonated with the kids.”

Students learned about the effects and consequences of bullying at school and cyberbullying, and how to navigate it.

High school student Aiden Guindon, 16, feels the school does a good job of handling cases of bullying and that being a tight-knit community of just more than 40 students works in their favour.

“I feel like bullying isn’t really a big issue in our school, because I feel like there’s a lot of support for that, like the principal and everybody has a good patrol on things,” said Guindon. “I find we all grew up together pretty much. Not many people judge each other, and if they do, a lot of people stick up for each other, like me.”

The students also feel comfortable sharing with staff about any issues that they may have, said Simon.

“I think it’s great for the kids to have that sense of community with their peers and also their teachers,” said Simon. “I think in a larger school that they don’t have those connections, a lot of the issues might go unnoticed, whereas here it’s hard to hide things. But it’s good, in a sense, because if a child needs support or needs help, then we’re able to get it for them.”

At the elementary school, principal Melissa McGregor focuses on teaching the young children how to regulate their behaviour, and to better navigate problem-solving with their peers.

The school and staff highlighted Pink Shirt Day with the students in class, said McGregor.

“In elementary school, they’re really developing their social and emotional skills. So they do go through these different changes, and this is a safe place for us to develop those skills,” said McGregor. “It doesn’t solve it overnight. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes repetition and consistency.”

Ultimately, the goal is to include parents, staff, and students in learning how to stop bullying behaviours, said McGregor, so that all the children even those that may have fumbled in the past, may grow to be the best version of themselves.

“We are putting all their kids’ interests at heart, and we are even if your child is the one that’s being labelled the bully,” said McGregor. “Sometimes it’s not always true. Sometimes they’re having a hard time. We want them all to feel safe.

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Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter