Thank you to all staff at Pacific Region Headquarters who wore pink shirts on Wednesday, February 24 in support of the campaign to end bullying. For those who don’t know the history of Pink T-Shirt day, it started in a Nova Scotia high school in 2007 when two students went and bought pink t-shirts to wear in support of a fellow student who was being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. The following is an excerpt from a newspaper article about the story:
“David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenaged friends organized a high school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied.
‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’
So Mr. Shepherd and some others headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out messages to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled."
Turns out our colleagues in the Pacific Region were in good company that day as the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Ralph Goodale, also participated in the initiative.
