Chestermere council passes 1st reading of anti-bullying bylaw
CBC News | Posted: May 8, 2019 6:44 PM | Last Updated: May 15, 2019
'I would love for this to be sort of the impetus for other organizations or other municipalities'
The City of Chestermere took a step toward legislating against bullying, at a special public meeting on Tuesday.
Council held a mobile meeting at a local school in Chestermere, where members voted to pass a first-reading of an anti-bullying bylaw.
Bullying can take many forms, including aggressive name-calling between students, withholding food from a live-in parent, online harassment, or sending demeaning emails about a co-worker, the city said in a release.
The bylaw "adopts a broad definition of bullying as the intentional, repeated and hostile or demeaning behavior by an individual or group where the behaviour results in physical, emotional or mental fear or distress to one or more individuals based on factors including (but not limited to) ability, race, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or identity," the city said in a release.
"Currently, there exists a gap in how to respond to complaints of bullying — schools offer education and the RCMP can lay criminal charges, but there is little in between."
The bylaw would give city peace officers the power to order an offender to write a letter of apology, to mandate anti-bullying training or to impose fines.
Peace officer Trevor Bowman said it's hoped those provisions will give the offender an opportunity to learn about the negative impact their bullying has.
"In hopes it will change their behaviour and upon the successful completion of that awareness we no longer pursue in a court matters with them," he said.
The bylaw was developed in consultation with Dare to Care Calgary, an anti-bullying organization.
"I would love for this to be sort of the impetus for other organizations or other municipalities to consider similar legislation and have that sort of trickle down to various other places as well," said Dare to Care spokesperson Kim Edwards.
Members of the public are invited to comment on the proposed bylaw for the next several weeks. Council plans to have a final vote on the bylaw in June.
There is support available to people experiencing bullying:
- Emergencies: If you feel in immediate danger, call 911.
- The Bullying Helpline (1-888-456-2323) provides support in more than 170 languages.
- Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 offers help 24/7. Text CONNECT to 686868.
- Family Violence Info Line: 310-1818 is also available 24/7.
- Alberta Provincial Abuse Helpline: 1-855-4HELPAB (1-855-443-5722) offers assistance in more than 100 languages from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Friday.
- Protection for Persons in Care reporting line: 1-888-357-9339 to report the abuse of an adult receiving care or support services from public-funded providers.