5th grader the catalyst behind anti-bullying day at the Legislature

February 20, 2012

Yellowknife, N.W.T. -  A chance appearance at a constituency meeting earlier this month has helped to further the anti-bullying cause at one school in the city.

 Michael Elms, a grade five student at N.J. Macpherson School, went to the monthly meeting of Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro last month and told her about the "Pink Shirt" day the school had back in November.

From there, his class was invited to the Legislative Assembly last week for a theme day on bullying in schools and heard speeches from many MLAs on the matter.

Elms' teacher, Kerry Heldman, said the message at the school now is stand out and be seen.

"Instead of hiding [and] being bullied, standup, get it prevented and then let people help you, " she said, "that is the new and up coming message that will probably be starting to be more unfolding in the spring around N.J."

Heldman's class, along with the rest of the school, will also be joining in on a special event on anti-bullying with many other students at the end of the month.

"We are going to join in with the National Anti-Bullying Day with the NWT but then there is also one that is done in April as well. We will dress in pink again and then the children will go into classes, where they will do a presentation in the gym and present anti bullying and how to stand up and be seen," she said.

All MLAs at the Legislature wore something pink and some even used pink paper to support the school's cause on that day. 

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