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Fighting for equality

Feminists for Gender
Equality Club kicks off

By Eric Wilkins,
Staff Writer

n Friday, November

16, one of Douglas
College’s newest
clubs put in its first
public appearance. The
Feminists for Gender
Equality club had tables
at both campuses to help
introduce themselves
to the school. The club
screened relevant docu-
mentaries as they encour-
aged interested parties
to write down what they
thought feminism was
ona large whiteboard
to show the many inter-
pretations of the word.

Co-president, Sarah

Kahn had this to say

Province works to ERASE bullying

Clark launches an online
bullying resource at
downtown conference

By Sophie Isbister,
Staff Writer

Proms by the
suicide of Coquitlam

teen Amanda Todd a
month ago, last Tuesday
the British Columbia
government held an
anti-bullying conference
in Vancouver. Expect
Respect and A Safe
Education (ERASE)
Bullying is the project of
Premier Christy Clark,
who used the summit to
unveil an online-based
bullying resource aimed
at teens and children
in order to make it
easier for them to report
instances of bullying.
The web portal has
been in the works by the

 
  

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about the purpose of the
club, “We want to raise
awareness on gender-
related issues and create
workshops to help bring
people understanding.
We believe in gender
equality. Equality for
both men and women
or however you like to
identify yourself. We’d
like to bring awareness

provincial government
since June, and is part

of a larger campaign to
actively reduce bullying
in schools and bring
issues to the attention

of parents and admin-
istrators. The ERASE
Bullying website brings
awareness to the different
definitions of bullying,
including physical,
verbal, social and
emotional, and cyber-
bullying. It also provides
resources for parents as
well as students, such

as tools to help identify
if your child is a bully.

In addition to provid-
ing resources, Clark’s
project includes a report-
ing website, called Report
Bullying BC. Bullied
students can fill out a
form on the website with
relative anonymity and
their report will be sent
to a safe-schools coor-
dinator in their school

Photo courtesy of Sarah Khan

to certain things that
happen, sometimes
on a daily basis, that
we kind of accept as a
norm, and that needs
to be changed.”

The club is the recent
brainchild of Kahn and
Illoradanon Efimoff. “We
started the club some-
where in mid-October.

I think we just started

district, the addition of
which is also part of the
comprehensive ERASE
Bullying initiative.
Included in the
conference were
Education Minister
Don McRae, Clark, a
number of anti-bullying
experts, and over 130
students from BC who
participated by sharing
their experiences with
and views on bullying.
In a release published
on the BC government’s
website, Clark stated
“The summit brought
together a wide range of
participants who were
in agreement: stopping
bullying requires a
culture change in our
schools, homes, and com-
munities. Community
agencies, parents, educa-
tors, and students all
need to play a role.”
Clark also opened
up the summit to

it as asmall group with
a few friends, and we
made a Facebook page
and started inviting a
few people, and then it
started getting really,
really popular. We had
more and more people
joining the club, and
then they started invit-
ing other people, and
within a month or so
we had about 50 mem-
bers,” beamed Kahn.

Kahn also com-
mented that over 30
additional people had
signed up due to their
promoting that day.

“T think it kind of
reflects the demographic
of the college. I’d say
it’s mostly people who
are in their twenties,
but we do have people
who are mature students
as well,” commented
Kahn on the makeup

citizens on the web via
Twitter, inviting people
to join the conversation
by using the hash-tag
#ERASEbullying to
send questions to the
premier and other
conference attendees.
By opening the discus-
sion on Twitter, Clark
also opened the project
up to public debate
and scrutiny. The main
criticism of the event is
that in the 10-pronged
plan includes no specific
mention of the bullying
faced by LGBTQ youth.
Another controversy
surrounding the sum-
mit was the exclusion
of Carol Todd, mother
of Amanda Todd, who
had hoped to attend
the summit as a listener
or speaker. McRae told
reporters in a released
transcript from a telecon-
ference that anti-bullying
experts led him to believe

of their membership.
“We'd like to get more
men involved. I think
it’s more female centric.
It’s an ideology that’s
attracted more women.
We do have members of
both [sexes] though.”

While the club
doesn’t currently have
any upcoming events,
Kahn mentioned a project
they already have in the
works. “Right now we’re
working on a magazine,
and we hope to publish
that and distribute that
among students.” There
are also plans to collabo-
rate in the future with the
DSU Pride Community
and the Women’s Centre.

For more informa-
tion, or to join the club,
check out their Facebook
page, “Douglas College
Feminists for Gender
Equality Club.”

that including Todd
would have the potential
to upset some of the stu-
dent attendees, due to the
fresh nature of Amanda
Todd’s death. At present,
BC government officials
are working to control
this issue and planning
to meet with Todd to
discuss the summit.

The ERASE Bullying
summit was summed
up in a tweet by Clark,
quoting presenter,
anti-bullying expert,
and author Barbara
Coloroso: “We must do
3 things: 1. Pay atten-
tion 2. Get involved 3.
Never, ever look away.”

The ERASE
Bullying website is at
erasebullying.ca and
the tool to report bul-
lying can be found at
reportbullyingbe.ca