By Kelly Malone

Saskatoon students rally against bullying

Mar 30, 2015 | 4:42 PM

With the music pumping and the crowd cheering, more than 1,200 students wore pink to stand up against bullying at the University of Saskatchewan Monday morning.

The Red Cross Day of Pink rally brought together elementary and high school students from more than 10 schools to hear from different speakers about the importance of standing up to bullying.

“If they don’t talk about it then they don’t have that understanding about bullying and actually how bad it is. If you talk about it you aren’t alone,” Grade 7 Silverwood Heights School student Chad Thomas explained.

On top of being dressed in pink, Thomas was also one of the student MCs, after previously being part of a Red Cross symposium about bullying.

“Because of technology there is cyber bullying and that’s a terrible thing. You don’t even know who it is and it’s hard to stop,” he said, adding kids should talk to a trusted adult and find a solution.

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“Be an active bystander so you should know when to step in.”

Speakers at the rally included Roughrider Scott McHenry, RBC Olympian Miranda Biletski, and musicians Codie Prevost and Stephen Maguire. Pink Shirt Day Co-founder Travis Price also told the students about the bullying he faced in high school which inspired him to start Pink Shirt Day, which is on Wednesday.

“The biggest picture for us is to actually raise awareness to bullying prevention and that bullying is not acceptable in our society. This is just one day to raise awareness but Red Cross does a lot of work with schools after,” provincial director for Canadian Red Cross Cindy Fuchs explained.

“We do know that when peers talk to peers it has a great effect. We also know that education is key to … changing a culture.”

With most students on Facebook and Twitter, Fuchs added that it’s important to talk about cyber-bullying and show positive interactions with social media.

“Twitter is already going crazy … lot’s of kids will be encouraged to use their social media in a positive way,” she said, adding that adults can help stop bullying too.

“If a kid actually is being bullied and they see it they can step in as well … bullying stops in 10 seconds if a peer steps in.”

On the actual Day of Pink, students will take what they’ve learned at the rally and apply it to activities in their schools.

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