Bullying Education and Prevention

Bullying Education and Prevention

EDUCATION  an PREVENTION of CYBERBULLYING

Over the past several months, Hockey Canada has been working on information around the education and prevention of cyberbullying. In partnership with Kids Help Phone and PREVNet, Hockey Canada has created a webpage containing resources that will be important for our leagues and minor hockey associations on these issues. Below are the links to the websites and attached are the buttons your association can use on your own site to highlight and connect to the page.

 http://www.hockeycanada.ca/cyberbullying

 http://www.hockeycanada.ca/cyberintimidation

 Hockey Canada is also working on an administration manual for associations and leagues. Once completed, that will be added to the site and distributed in .pdf form.

 Hockey Nova Scotia also has links to these pages at www.hockeynovascotia.ca under the Risk Management tab.

Hockey Canada Bullying Definition

Bullying is defined by the combined use of aggression and power. It occurs when one or more individuals abuse power and direct verbal, physical or social aggression at another individual. Harm inflicted by bullying may be physical, psychological, social or educational. 

Bullying includes a continuum of hurtful behaviours that can range in severity from name-calling to criminal assault. Bullying among youth is addressed by education legislation in seven provinces and one territory. Most commonly, the legislation pertains to any incident that affects the learning climate of a school, whether or not it took place on school property, face to face, or through cyberbullying.

To learn more about bullying legislation in your province or territory, see Policy and Legislation at www.prevnet.ca. Bullying among adults is addressed through harassment and human rights legislation as well as criminal law.  

There are many forms of bullying:

Physical bullying includes hitting, kicking, shoving, spitting, beating up, stealing, or damaging property.

Verbal bullying includes name-calling, mocking, hurtful teasing, humiliating or threatening someone, racist comments, or sexual harassment.

Social bullying includes rolling your eyes or turning away from someone, excluding others from the group, gossiping or spreading rumours, setting others up to look foolish, or damaging friendships.

Racial bullying includes treating people badly because of their racial or ethnic background, saying bad things about a cultural background, calling someone racist names, or telling racist jokes.

Religious bullying includes treating people badly because of their religious background or beliefs, saying bad things about a religious background or belief, calling someone names, or telling jokes based on his or her religious beliefs.

Sexual bullying includes leaving someone out or treating them badly because they are a boy or a girl; making someone feel uncomfortable because of their gender or sexual orientation; making sexist comments or jokes; touching, pinching or grabbing someone in a sexual way; making crude comments about someone’s sexual behaviour; spreading a sexual rumour about someone; or calling someone gay, a fag, a lesbian, or similar names.

Disability bullying includes leaving someone out or treating them badly because of a disability, making someone feel uncomfortable because of a disability, or making comments or jokes to hurt someone with a disability

Cyberbullying includes the use of email, cell phones, text messages and internet sites to threaten, harass, embarrass, humiliate, socially exclude or damage another person’s reputations and friendships.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of bullying behaviours that are used to intimidiate, distress, or control others:

• Unwarranted yelling and screaming

• Continually criticizing someone’s abilities

• Blaming and humiliating another person for mistakes

• Making unreasonable demands related to performance

• Repeated insults or put downs

• Repeated threats to remove or restrict opportunities or privileges

• Denying or discounting someone’s accomplishment

• Threats of and actual physical violence

  Hockey Canada/Kids Help Phone Tip Sheets

• < >< >< >Cyberbullying can make you feel sad, afraid, or like there’s nothing you can do. But there are always things you can do to help make things better, even if it’s only a little bit at a time.

   

  Remember – being bullied is never okay, and you shouldn’t have to put up with it. You have a right to be yourself without being bullied.

  KIDS – WHAT TO DO

  Kids Help Phone – CLICK HERE
  PREVNet – CLICK HERE
  Tip Sheet – CLICK HERE

  TEENS – WHAT TO DO

  Kids Help Phone – CLICK HERE
  PREVNet – CLICK HERE

  ADULTS – WHAT TO DO

  The Team Meeting

  Have a team meeting!

  STEP 1

  Convene a meeting with your players and their parents. Distribute the Hockey Canada/Kids Help Phone tip sheets that apply to your age group.

  Kids (Initiation, Novice, Atom) – CLICK HERE

  Teens (Peewee, Bantam, Midget) – CLICK HERE

  Parents, coaches, administrators – CLICK HERE

  Click Here for Additional Resources

  Speak Out Bench Poster - CLICK HERE

  Speak Out Brochure - CLICK HERE

  Speak Out Bullying Poster - CLICK HERE

  Speak Out Parents Guide - CLICK HERE

  STEP 2

  Make players and parents aware of your team policy or team code, and your branch or minor hockey association policy.

  SAMPLE CODE:

THE CODE TO ACCEPTABLE ONLINE BEHAVIOUR ENTER YOUR TEAM OR ASSOCIATION HERE Never treat someone online in a way that you wouldn’t feel comfortable doing face to face. As a team and minor hockey association, we will not tolerate negative treatment of others, especially online. Participants are asked to respect that the dressing room and bus are a time to spend with their teammates – use of mobile devices that isolate you from this interaction are not recommended – any uncertainty regarding this area should be discussed with your coach. Similarly, the dressing room and any off-ice training venue are team-specific. Devices that take the focus of an athlete away from the task at hand are NOT allowed. Never share your passwords with anyone other than a trusted adult. Never share your cellphone numbers or email addresses unless you know and trust the person. Never share your personal information or photos in a chat room. Never post, email or forward naked photos of yourself – or anyone else – to anyone. Always stand up to bullying behaviour you see online Always talk to a trusted adult about your online relationships and what you see online. If you are being cyberbullied or concerned that someone else is, you don’t have to deal with it alone. Always protect yourself. If you think you or someone else is being harassed or threatened, make a copy of the message before you delete it. Internet service providers, cell phone service providers, and social networking websites like Facebook have terms of use that forbid bullying, harassing, malicious or illegal behaviour. Contact them so they can investigate the issue or remove the offending material.  Approach the police when physical threats are involved or a crime has possibly been committed.

To download the code, CLICK HERE.
 

STEP 3

Make parents aware of the Hockey Canada cyberbullying webpage.

CLICK HERE to view.

STEP 4

Show cyberbullying PSAs.

Get Cyber Safe (Government of Canada) – CLICK HERE

 

National Day to End Bullying Statement – CLICK HERE
PREVNet – CLICK HERE
Tip Sheet – CLICK HERE

TEXTING AWARENESS

Texting is one of the most popular ways for young people to communicate.

Learn more about responsible texting – CLICK HERE

Safe texting guidelines – CLICK HERE

The Acronictionary (what do acronyms mean?) – CLICK HERE