Thanks very much for inviting us to make a presentation today on this growing and disturbing issue that is affecting the lives of so many of our youth. We applaud the standing committee on human rights for its work on that front.
Before I present to you our federation's recommendations, allow me a few minutes to provide you with a quick overview of our organization and our work on cyberbullying over the last six years.
The Canadian Teachers' Federation is a bilingual umbrella organization composed of 15 member organizations and one affiliate member, representing nearly 200,000 teachers across Canada. We are a member of the international body of teachers, Education International, which represents over 30 million educators around the world.
CTF began addressing the issue of cyberbullying in 2007, when a growing number of teachers started to report cyberbullying incidents in their schools. The incidents were not only devastating for the targeted students but also harmful for the entire school and the learning environment. Teachers also became targets of these unwarranted attacks, further damaging what should be a safe place conducive to learning.
In 2008, after many months of research, discussion, and cooperation, the CTF member organizations adopted a comprehensive policy aimed at addressing cyberbullying. Our definition of cyberbullying is the use of information and communication technologies to bully, embarrass, threaten, or harass another person. It also includes the use of these technologies to engage in conduct or behaviour that is derogatory, defamatory, degrading, or illegal.
Our policy's guiding principles are based on the premise that safe and caring schools should be a national priority; that we as a society all share responsibility for ensuring safe, respectful learning spaces and cyberspaces for our children; and that freedom of expression should be balanced with the rights of parents and educators who seek to ensure a positive online learning experience for students. I'm paraphrasing those guiding principles, of course.
Our policy takes a two-pronged approach that focuses on education and protection initiatives. The policy also recommends roles and responsibilities for students, parents, teachers, school boards, governments, and website or service providers.
In our brief, you will see a reference to a national public opinion poll on cyberbullying that we conducted in 2010. I won't go through the findings today, but will highlight the fact that back then, three-quarters of Canadians knew what cyberbullying was, and one-third personally knew a student who had been cyberbullied.
Given the amount of media coverage in similar surveys, the awareness is most likely very much higher today. An Ipsos Inter@ctive Reid report released last December shows that one in five online teens says that they have witnessed someone they know being bullied on social networking sites.
It also points out that teen ownership of smartphones has increased 18 percentage points to 43% since 2012, prompting what they call a move from cyberbullying to “mobile bullying”. You can see that we're already moving into the next phase of this problem. This speaks to the constant evolution of the problem and the need for concerted action.
Today I'd like to focus on one particular issue that we need to examine very attentively: the mental health of our students. The connection between bullying and mental health issues has been identified time and time again by studies and researchers.
According to Dr. Patrick Baillie of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, there's a link between bullying and mental health. He concludes that the history of victimization and poor social relationships predicts the onset of emotional problems in adolescents, and that previous recurrent emotional problems are significantly related to future victimization
Last week a new study was released by JAMA Psychiatry, an international peer review journal. It found that victims of bullying at school, and bullies themselves, are more likely to experience psychiatric problems in childhood. Researchers have found that elevated risk of psychiatric trouble extends into adulthood, sometimes even a decade after the intimidation has ended.
Experts say that the new study is the most comprehensive effort to date to establish the long-term consequences of childhood bullying. The researchers found that victims of bullying in childhood were 4.3 times more likely to have an anxiety disorder as adults, compared with those with no history of bullying or being bullied.
Furthermore, study after study shows a direct correlation between bullying, mental health issues, and academic achievements. How can students learn effectively when in fear for their safety?
Teachers want to intervene at the earliest possible time, but they need support from the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, as well as school boards.
It is time for a national conversation to take place among governments, educational stakeholders, and private ICT providers. The industry needs to hear first-hand the issues that schools, families, and communities face in trying to address the issue of cyberbullying. Stakeholders need to hear what ICT providers are doing to address the concern and what they are prepared to commit to as part of their responsibilities. Government needs to play a role in bringing parties together and facilitating change.
The CTF has presented briefs on a number of occasions to parliamentary committees, to the Senate, and has met with Justice Canada officials urging for amendments to the Criminal Code to address online harassment, cyberstalking, and cyberbullying. We have a number of recommendations that we would like to put forward at this time.
Canadian teachers are seeking the support of the Government of Canada in recognizing the extreme impact of the misuse of technology, as manifested in cybermisconduct and cyberbullying, by developing partnerships with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, the Canadian School Boards Association, and the Canadian Teachers' Federation, and by supporting the creation of a national strategy to address child and youth mental health issues in Canadian schools.
We are also seeking the Government of Canada's support for a public awareness and education campaign that focuses on appropriate cyber conduct and the prevention of cyberbullying; amendments to the regulatory framework for the rating of films and video games to reduce the possibility of excessively violent products being sold to children and youth; amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada that make it clear that the use of information and communications technology to convey a message that threatens death or bodily harm, or perpetuates fear and intimidation in another, constitutes a punishable offence under the Criminal Code; enacting new information and communications technology/cybermisconduct and cyberbullying legislation that protects teachers, students, and others from harm; and facilitating through regulation and legislation an incentive for a national dialogue with corporate ICT providers aimed at developing a common cause between private and public sectors in addressing cyberbullying.
That would be a large step toward putting forward an end to cyberbullying. As was suggested recently, with the release of the mental health strategy for Canada by the MHCC, the government should support the development of a national strategy in addressing bullying, including cyberbullying. A first step would be to orchestrate a national symposium of educational stakeholders and community leaders, whereby the beginning steps would be taken to ensure a consistency in approach across the nation.
As part of Canada’s commitment to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, every youth, regardless of where they live in Canada, deserves the right to live in a community and attend a school that is a safe place.
Canadian teachers believe in healthy learning and teaching environments; however, we need support from the political arena to make it happen.
Thank you.