Pink Shirt Day – Lift Each Other Up

By Corrine Gadke

Local schools and community members shone with acts of solidarity for the annual Pink Shirt Day Wednesday, February 26. Speeches of kindness, giant posters to sign for unity, and the extensive mutual support of wearing pink as a collective stand against bullying was very prevalent in our community.

It has been 13 years since the origins of Pink Shirt Day came to be. In 2007, Grade 9 student Chuck McNeill from Nova Scotia was bullied on the first day of school for wearing a pink shirt. Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price witnessed the bullying. They collaborated, bought 50 pink shirts, and encouraged other students to wear them to send a powerful message to the bully.

The message has been incredibly empowering with the awareness growing each year. Today, the anti-bullying day is recognized annually and celebrated on various dates all over the world.

Canada’s theme this year was Lift Each Other Up which encourages all Canadians to share the message by being kind, giving compliments, showing empathy, helping one another, encouraging us to look beyond our differences, and celebrate the things that make us unique.

Pink Shirt Day is celebrated on the last Wednesday in February every year in Canada. It is a reminder to us that every day we should be kind, lift each other up, and continue to take a stand against bullying.