Communities Against Bullying and Hazing
Formerly “Communities Against Paddling” (CAP), this is now one of the CACP committees. They have added all forms of bullying, on and off the schoolyard, to their scope.
One of the year's major highlights for this committee came on May 1, 2006, when they brought presenter Mike Neuts to Grande Prairie. Mike Neuts is the father of Myles Neuts, a 10-year-old boy who attended school in Chatham, Ontario. In February of 1998, Myles was found hanging on a coat hook in the school washroom, a victim of two bullies; he died of strangulation.
Since that time, Mike Neuts has travelled across the country, speaking out against the increasing occurrences of bullying in a school setting, and advocating for more effort to be put towards preventing this potentially fatal activity. We were honoured to have had him speak here in Grande Prairie; our condolences and thanks go to Mike and his family for having the strength to share the story and message they have brought out of this tragedy.
Another highlight for Communities Against Bullying and Hazing came in December of 2006, when they worked to bring the Challenge Day program to two local schools - École St. Gerard and Crystal Park. The Mission of the Challenge Day program is to "provide youth and their communities with experiential workshops and programs that demonstrate the possibility of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth and full expression." In fulfilling this Mission, the program takes many of the personal traits that are often targetted by bullies and helps people to see them in a positive light, instead of negative. For more details on the program, please visit their website, listed in the links at the bottom of this page.
Bullying Workshops
On June 4, 2007, Community Action on Crime Prevention and the Grande Prairie RCMP conducted the first bullying workshop for a youth who had been ticketed under the City of Grande Prairie's Bullying Bylaw.
The young person had been ticketed for a bullying incident by the Detachment's School Resource Officer and was provided the option of paying the specified penalty of $250 or attending a workshop on bullying hosted by the RCMP and CACP. The goal of the workshop is to educate young persons on the negative impacts of bullying. Discussions were held with the youth's parents who were fully supportive of the youth attending a workshop.
The workshop was conducted at the RCMP detachment and was very successful. The young person involved has a more positive view on the negative impacts of bullying on his school and the community. This young person has taken on the challenge of becoming a leader in anti-bullying at his school and has committed to making a positive impact with his fellow students.
Further information related to Communities Against Bullying and Hazing: