An online initiative to report incidents of school bullying and cyber-bullying has received national attention after two of the founders presented their program to the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights in Ottawa.
Since it was formed three years ago, the Stop A Bully initiative has allowed students and parents to report cases of bullying at school and online.
Presenting the information to the senate committee will help to heighten the awareness of the program and the need to address bullying.
In recent decades, efforts have been made to curb bullying but the problems still remain.
Educators today are taking bullying much more seriously than ever before and progress has been made. Still, more work is needed.
The need becomes increasingly important as students today have better access to technology and communications than in the past.
The incident which prompted Summerland Secondary School teacher Trevor Knowlton to start the Stop A Bully site happened just three years ago, in May, 2009.
In that case, a video of a fight at the school was recorded and posted online.
The far-reaching impact of bullying in an age with instant communication makes it a problem we cannot ignore.
School yard fights can now be viewed around the world.
But there is another reason to take measures to curb bullying.
The children and teens who learn to bully others while in school will become the employers, coworkers, customers or neighbours who continue their bullying behaviour.
We doubt bullying can ever be stopped entirely. It has existed for many years and persists despite anti-bullying programs and initiatives.
Still, if Stop A Bully can discourage some from bullying, the initiative deserves serious consideration.