I'll expand a bit more on that board meeting, specifically.
Thank you again, Pam, for inviting me here. It's an incredible opportunity.
At this board meeting, my friend and colleague Joel was able to speak on my behalf about the social exclusion I experienced in elementary school in grades 6, 7 and 8, which pushed me to miss about half of grade 8, simply because I felt so excluded. The fear of bullying was so intense that, even though I was very involved in school and loved learning, I hid in my bedroom. I attended this board meeting with a youth group through the Positive Space Network. It was a youth action committee. My friend Joel, who was the student trustee at the time, shared my story, which was incredibly emotional to hear. It was very impactful, I believe, at this meeting. What resulted, because of a mass disinformation campaign—I have some articles about that here, which I'll mention later—were many hate-filled protesters screaming every slur you could ever imagine at us and getting physically violent, which is why the police had to be called.
This kind of violence continues today. I received a death threat a month ago. These things happen to my colleagues all the time. I don't see it changing today. However, as the other Tyler mentioned, I think we are at a place where we need to come together and talk about this. Education is the first step.