News. Putting on pink to prevent bullying Fifth annual Pink Shirt Anti-Bullying Day By Allie Davison, Staff Writer ebruary 29, 2012 marks BC’s H fifth annual Anti-Bullying Day, also known as Pink Shirt Day. Bullying is a serious issue amongst the young people of today. Repercussions are high, with bullying victims two to nine times more likely to commit suicide than non-bullied youths. Pink Shirt Day was originally started by two Nova Scotian secondary school students, David Shepherd and Travis Price. Fed up with bullying in their own school, they purchased 50 pink tanks tops and distributed them to classmates, in hopes of preventing bullying. Following Shepard and Price’s example, Pink Shirt events now take place annually all over the country—Metro Vancouver included. Some participating schools have even created a pledge against bullying that all students must sign, so that if bullying happens in the school the students can be held accountable. Pink Shirt Day in BC is spearheaded by the CKNW Orphans’ Fund—they have raised more than $300,000 for Boys and Girls Clubs anti-bullying programs. “Pink Shirt Day helps bring awareness to the problem of bullying,” Jen Schaeffers, Executive Director of the CKNW Orphans’ Fund told The Other Press. CKNW AM 980 dedicates a month of coverage to the prevention of bullying. Schaeffer noted that they cover important topics such as “school bullying, workplace bullying, cyber bulling, and the detrimental effects it has on its victims.” Carolyn Tuckwell, CEO and President of the Boys and Girls Club of South Coast BC, added that “one of the most important things [they do is] encourage children... who are the targets or witnesses to [bullying] to talk about it! It sounds simple—however, the simple act of talking about it reduces isolation and brings help.” X Although reduced bullying rates haven’t been tied directly to events like Pink Shirt Day, Tuckwell reported that when she asked a group of children at a Boys and Girls Club in Vancouver about bullying in schools, “they commented that they have fewer bullies in their school.” When Tuckwell asked the children why, they responded “that they knew Tar sands turmoil Are we dirty? By Dylan Hackett, News Editor uropean Union officials have HE reached a stalemate after voting on a proposal to label Canadian oil as “dirty” as part of their fuel-quality directive. The decision over how to classify Canadian oil has been put off until later in the spring or summer, with voting numbers for the proposal being less than the necessary majority of 255 votes in favour. Votes are calculated by population size of member states _ with larger states having upwards of 20 votes and smaller states like Latvia with only four. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird critiqued the EU’s proposed ranking of oil quality based on environmental impact of use and extraction as a “discriminatory measure.” “As environment minister and as foreign minister [ can count on one hand the number of my counterparts who have ever raised the issue of the oilsands,” said Baird. “So while it does get considerable coverage in some quarters, it’s not something that’s ever raised—virtually never, in any meetings I had with my international colleagues.” Canada currently does very little oil trading with EU member states, but it is expected that the Alberta oilsands will become the leading source for petroleum in Europe and worldwide. Many states in the EU, however, what to do if they were being bullied, and also felt more confident to step in to help their friend that’s being bullied.” Douglas College supported Pink Shirt Day this year with a session with professional, inspirational (and ex-bullying victim) public speaker Michael Bortolotto and Pink Shirt Day photos taken on campus. Canadian ambassador to the EU, David Plunkett, wrote to the EU climate action commissioner last December, “Tf the final measures single out oilsands crude in a discriminatory, arbitrary, or unscientific way, or are otherwise inconsistent with the EU’s international trade obligations, I want to state that Canada will “The Canadian government is also considering an official action to be taken against the EU with the World Trade Organization if the proposal makes its way into law this summer.’ have national investments in Northern Alberta, dividing European countries votes on the issue. Of those invested in the oilsands, France, Britain, and the Netherlands have abstained from voting on the measure—thus sending the decision to a committee to evaluate. The Canadian government is also considering an official action to be taken against the EU with the World Trade Organization if the proposal makes its way into law this summer. explore every avenue at its disposal to defend its interests, including at the World Trade Organisation.” The proposal authors defend the scientific soundness of the labelling, which states that the crude oil from Northern Alberta is 22 per cent more polluting than standard oil. The exact figure of how much more pollution ranges from the EU’s conservative estimate of 22 per cent to environmental group Oil Sands Truth’s estimate of 300 per cent.