Anti-bullying law proposed for Ontario schools
Posted November 30, 2011 12:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The McGuinty government is proposing an anti-bullying law that would, if passed, allow Ontario schools to permanently expel students for discriminating and taunting others.
The government is expected to introduce the Accepting Schools Act Wednesday afternoon, which will allow students will be allowed to create gay-straight alliances (GSAs). Some Catholic schools had banned clubs that focused on sexual orientation.
Earlier on Wednesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty was at a Toronto school to launch the province’s new anti-bullying campaign.
McGuinty told students at L’Amoreaux Collegiate Institute that schools will now have to take action to prevent bullying.
“We’re going to do our part as legislators, as law makers in Ontario, but we need a cultural change as well,” he said.
“We need all of our students in all of our schools to come together on this and yes, to make a value statement, and to say bullying of any kind, for any reason, is wrong.”
McGuinty also released a video message called “It Gets Better”, part of an online campaign to encourage young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) children and teens.
To view the video, click here.
The Progressive-Conservatives also launched their own anti-bullying bill on Wednesday. McGuinty, who is leading a minority government, suggested he was open to incorporating some of the Tories’s ideas into the Liberal bill.
