We Remember - York Region Anti

We Remember
Bullying Victims
in Canada
Shaquille Wisdom, 13
Gary Hansen, 16
March 2, 2005, Roblin, Man.
October 20, 2007, Ajax, Ont.
Gary was teased and
The summer before he started Grade 9,
picked on by classmates
Shaquille admitted to a friend that he was
and his parents decided to
gay. After the friend told others, Shaquille
was bullied by email, and websites were
set up to humiliate him. The bullying continued after the school year began. Seeing no way out, Shaquille hanged himself.
homeschool him for two
years. Eventually he decided to return to public
school, but he was again
victimized by several bullies, who called him names
and stole his lunches. Gary
“People used to throw him in garbage cans and leave him
there for over two hours.”
GillesHansen,
Moreau,16
16
Gary
Reena Virk, 14
March 2, 2005, Roblin, Man.
November 17, 1997, Saanich, B.C.
Gary was teased and picked on
Reena’s murder attracted widespread attention
and raised awareness about bullying in Canadian
schools. Reena was swarmed by seven girls and
one boy, beaten and burned with cigarettes. Two
of the her attackers, Warren Glowatski and Kelly
Ellard, then beat her again before drowning her.
Glowatski and Ellard were both convicted of
second-degree murder.
by classmates and his parents
decided to homeschool him for
two years. Eventually he decided to return to public school,
but he was again victimized by
several bullies, who called him
names and stole his lunches.
Gary
June hanged
9, 2001 himself in a building
near
his school
Stony
Plain,
Alta.
Gilles was picked on by class-
Myles Neuts, 10
mates, singled out because he
was small, wore glasses and
had a learning disability. A
fellow student described how
“people used to throw him in
February 6, 1998, Chatham, Ont.
Myles, a Grade 5 student, was found
hanging on a coat hook in the washroom of his public school. He had
garbage cans and leave him for
been the victim of two older boys
over two hours.” Gilles, who
who invited other students to “watch
had been drinking on the night
the dummy” as he was strangled by
of his death, was found face-
his shirt collar and necklace.
down in a water-filled ditch.
hanged himself in a building near his school.
Ashkan Sultani, 15
January 12, 2010
Nanaimo, B.C.
Ashkan was physically bullied
and forced to move to a new
school, but the abuse continued there as well. After Ashkan
Jenna Bowers-Bryanton, 15
January 17, 2011, Truro, N.S.
Jenna Bowers-Bryanton enjoyed singing and playing the guitar, and she posted some of
hanged himself, his parents
stated that the school board
was unwilling to acknowledge
the role of bullying in their
son’s suicide.
her songs on YouTube. Other students at her high school harassed her in the hallways
and online. “They told her she had no talent, that she was ugly, that she may as well go
kill herself,” said a friend’s mother. Jenna dropped out of her first semester of Grade 10,
and the night before she was to return to school, she hanged herself in her home.
Greg Doucette, 15
Mitchell
Wilson, 11
September 7, 2011, Pickering, Ont.
Mitchell had muscular dystrophy
and took regular walks to exercise
his deteriorating muscles. During
one of those walks, he was mugged
October 20, 2002
Brampton, Ont.
Greg had been the victim of bullying since Grade 2, but the problems got worse when he started
his first year at Notre Dame High
School. On his last day, a student
threw a coin at him and yelled,
by an older boy. After learning that
“Here’s a quarter, go kill your-
he would have to testify against his
self!” Greg went home and
attacker, Mitchell took his life by
hanged himself in his basement.
tying a plastic bag around his neck.
It was the night before he was to
start Grade 6.
Hamed Nastoh, 16
Jason Lang, 17
March 11, 2000
Surrey, B.C.
April 28, 1999, Taber, Alta.
Hamed was a Grade 9 student
Todd Cameron Smith, a 14-year-old in
at Enver Creek High School
Taber, Alberta, had been brutally bullied
who was relentlessly teased
for years, once being doused with lighter
and bullied by classmates.
fluid by children who threatened to set
him on fire. Inspired by the massacre at
Columbine High School eight days before, Smith opened fire with a .22-calibre
rifle inside W.R. Myers High School. Student Jason Lang was killed and another
was wounded.
Emmet Fralick, 14
April 8, 2002, Halifax, N.S.
Emmet, a Grade 9 student at St. Agnes
School in Halifax, was forced to give
On a Saturday night when his
parents were out, Hamed
wrote a five-page suicide
note, filled his backpack with
rocks, and leaped into the
Fraser River from the Pattullo
Bridge. “I hate myself for do-
money to his tormentors, and even sold
most of his belongings to pay them. He
shot himself after leaving a suicide note
saying that he couldn’t endure any more
bullying. Police later charged a 15-yearold girl who was eventually sentenced to
one year in youth jail.
ing this to you,” he wrote in
his note, “but there is no
other way out.”
Chris Howell, 17
September 8, 2011, Hamilton, Ont.
“I hate myself
for doing this
to you, but
there is no
other way out.”
Chris suffered from Tourette’s syndrome,
obsessive-compulsive disorder, and attention
deficit disorder, all of which made him a
target. After the bullying continued into his
first week of Grade 12, Chris called his mother to tell her he loved her, then hung up the
phone and killed himself.
Joshua Melo, 15
November 26, 2004
Strathroy, Ont.
The suicide of Joshua, a
Grade 10 student at
Strathroy District Collegiate
Institute, helped draw attention to cyberbullying, as he
was the victim of homophobic slurs delivered by instant
messaging, as well as verbal
harassment. Joshua hanged
himself from a tree where he
and his brothers used to
have a treehouse.
Dawn-Marie Wesley, 14
Travis Sleeva, 16
December 6, 2004, Canora, Sask.
Travis, a Grade 11 student, shot himself after suffering
daily abuse from other students who teased him because
he enjoyed country music and riding horses. Travis’s family
reported the bullying several times, but the school failed to
put a stop to it.
Bryten Brown, 13
May 8, 2010, St. Thomas, Ont.
A Grade 8 student who loved baseball
and golf, Bryten took his own life on
November 10, 2000
Mother’s Day weekend after being bullied
Mission, B.C
at his school. On a Facebook tribute page
Dawn-Marie hanged herself
set up in Bryten’s memory, one of his
in her bedroom with her
classmates asked “why somebody has to
dog’s leash. She left a note
die for us to realize that bullying is wrong
naming three schoolmates
and it needs to stop.”
who were bullying her, and
saying that she felt her only
escape was to die. Two of the
bullies were later charged
with uttering threats, and
one was convicted. The case
set a legal precedent, as it
was the first in which teenage defendants were made
to stand trial for bullying.
Tyler Trithart, 17
May 25, 2001, Chestemere, Alta
Tyler was bullied because he was small for his age, and he had
an undiagnosed learning disability. Another Grade 11 student
challenged him to a fight that was watched by an estimated 75
students. “He went because he was afraid and did not want to
be called a chicken,” his mother said. Tyler was punched in the
face and died from his injuries.
Brendan Deleary, 15
February 15, 2010, London, Ont.
Brendan was a quiet, artistic teenager who played guitar, made drawings
and even wrote book called Attack of Mega Zack, featuring a hero who
fought back against the story’s bullies. After his suicide by hanging, it
became clear that Brendan himself had been routinely bullied by students
on his school bus.
York Region
Anti-Bullying
Coalition
Many voices—One vision
to eliminate bullying
York Region Anti-Bullying
Coalition is a non-profit
advocacy organization that
assists parents in navigating
the complex school system
when trying to find answers.
Jamie Hubley , 15
We strive for a school
October 15, 2011, Ottawa, Ont.
system that will foster
Jamie was the only openly gay student at his high school. He suffered from depres-
equality among all students,
sion as a result of the bullying and his desperate desire to be accepted. Jamie tried
mutual respect, and a
to start a Rainbow Club at his school, only to see his posters torn down. His suicide
prompted an influential reaction from comedian Rick Mercer: “It’s no longer good
culture that is free of racism
enough for us to tell kids who are different that it’s going to get better. We need to
and violence.
make it better now.”
“It’s no longer enough to to tell kids it’s going to get
better. We need to make it better now.”
Courtney
Brown, 17
April 7, 2011
Parrsboro, N.S.
Courtney was in her final
year of high school when
she took her own life. She
had been bullied for
months at school and on
Facebook. Near the end, her father said, she was so afraid that she would not
even take her dogs outside for their walks.
Visit our website at:
yorkregionanti-bullying.org