Art Clip of a Boy Who Is Man Being Bullied and Nicknamed a Bad Word
Todd Loik, 15, committed suicide because students hounded him with 'nasty' letters, mother says
A Saskatchewan female parent is calling for federal legislation to protect vulnerable teens from cyberbullies later on her son killed himself considering of 'not-stop' taunting
Kim Loik says she told her 15-yr-erstwhile son Todd to ignore the bullies and the constant barrage of insults they were sending to him on Facebook and through texts on his cellphone.
On the night of Sept. 8, he received some other taunt, she said.
"I told him to become to bed and not worry well-nigh it," his mom recalled Wednesday, through sniffles and sobs.
They were the nastiest things I've always heard
The next morning time, she found her son dead in their dwelling in North Battleford, northwest of Saskatoon. He had killed himself.
RCMP are looking into whether bullying played a part in the death. Sgt. Neil Tremblay said the investigation is in the early stages and officers are trying to get the required legal authorization for admission to the male child's online and phone messages.
Loik said she has spoken with the female parent of 15-year-one-time Amanda Todd, who committed suicide in British Columbia last twelvemonth. The daughter had posted a eye-wrenching video online about the relentless bullying she experienced, and her subsequent expiry sparked a nationwide anti-bullying attempt.
Loik said Carol Todd linked her with a private grouping that was able to dig into her son's cyber and telephone files. "They have pages and pages of taunts and abuse."
She said her son wouldn't allow her read his Facebook folio and he only shared a few of the messages he received. Loik can't bring herself to read the pages of insults only, from what she does know, they're vile.
"They were the nastiest things I've ever heard. I tin't even repeat — some of the things were just disgusting."
Loik said she'due south unsure why her son was the subject of such torment. He was simply a normal kid who wanted to fit in.
He loved store form and talked about becoming a welder. He was excited about taking his driver's test on his 16th altogether, Sept. 20. And he had showed his mom pictures of his favourite car he hoped to drive someday, a archetype Buick Skylark.
Co-ordinate to a video posted to Facebook, a grouping of more than than x of Todd's friends and family gathered on Sept. 20 — the day that would take been his sixteenth birthday. "Here's to y'all, bud," a human is heard saying in the video.
The grouping lit 16 candles and sang Happy Birthday.
"The pain in my heart has not stopped aching. Merely for my baby I volition gloat," Ms. Loik wrote on a Facebook tribute page.
The unmarried mom said the bullying started in the schoolyard five years ago, shortly later she moved with her only child from Edmonton. As her son got older, the insults came through his estimator and phone.
"It was usually at nighttime when it would happen. At that place was no peace."
She said her son didn't desire her to get involved or call his school; it would only make things worse.
The harassment connected through the summertime, said Loik. She sent her son with his cousins to become camping for a week in the Rocky Mountains well-nigh Jasper, Alta. "He had a little bit of peace and came home and he was smiling and happy."
Loik said they had decided to move back to Edmonton so he could have a fresh offset. They were packing and house-hunting and he was looking frontward to the move afterwards this fall, she said.
He was a week into Class x at North Battleford Comprehensive Loftier School when he died.
Shannon Lessard, a spokeswoman with the Living Sky School Segmentation, said schoolhouse officials are simply at present hearing about the bullying and it'due south unfortunate Loik or his mom didn't report information technology. Bullying can be reported anonymously, she said.
Loik said she wants justice. For her that includes criminal charges against the bullies who tormented her child, equally well every bit a movement by Ottawa to enact federal anti-bullying legislation.
In July, Heritage Government minister James Moore announced the Canadian government would provide $250,000 in funding for a new national anti-bullying project.
The program was created in role considering of 15-twelvemonth-one-time Jamie Hubley'south suicide in the fall of 2011. Hubley, an openly gay student who had been bullied throughout his school years, was the son of Ottawa urban center councillor Allan Hubley — a political leader with friends on the federal and provincial political circles.
"If we exercise goose egg, it will atomic number 82 to the death of children," said Moore, whose riding in British Columbia is home to the late Amanda Todd, the 15-year old former cheerleader who killed herself last October as a result of a cyberbullying campaign against her.
The Canadian Blood-red Cross will run the project, which is expected to take an impact on more than than fifty,000 young people across the country.
As function of the Stand Upward to Bullying and Discrimination in Canadian Communities project, the Red Cantankerous plans to train 2,400 teenagers ages xiii to 17 on how to evangelize bullying prevention workshops and connect with their peers. After training, each teen will commit to reaching out to at least 20 others in his or her community to create a larger conversation about bullying.
Meanwhile, provinces have been tackling the result in different means.
In the past year, Nova Scotia has passed a Cyber-Safe Deed assuasive people to sue or seek a protection order from the courts if they or their children are being cyberbullied. Manitoba has also passed anti-bullying legislation and is considering more than measures that could include protection orders, mandatory penalties and an anonymous tip line.
It has to exist one constabulary preventing this from always happening once again
Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie said he would launch a judicial inquiry to examine the justice system's failures in the Rehtaeh Parsons case if a Tory government is elected.
Rehtaeh was taken off life-support after a suicide attempt last April in what her family says was brought on by months of bullying.
They say she was tormented later on a digital photograph of her allegedly being sexually assaulted in November 2011 was passed around her schoolhouse.
Liberal politician Michel Samson said his party would consider launching a judicial inquiry if elected on Oct. 8, merely non until after the court process plays out for two teen men arrest terminal month in Rehtaeh's instance.
Loik said bullying laws need to exist the same beyond the country.
"It can't be province-to-province. It has to be one law preventing this from always happening once again to anybody. There's so many kids out at that place in hurting and suffering that deal with this daily and they shouldn't."
Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay sent a tweet Wednesday maxim his thoughts are with the Loik family. "More than proof that cyberbullying must be addressed. #BullyingHurts," he wrote.
Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair also talked well-nigh the boy's death on Twitter: "Let's all work together to fight bullying and put an end to these tragedies."
Loik has reportedly started a fundraising entrada to help other bullied children in the wake of her son's tragic decease.
Before this week, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall sent Loik an e-mail offering his condolences, and commending her desire to assist protect other teens from cyberbullying.
He told reporters Wednesday that the province is looking at anti-bullying initiatives.
"Start of all, what a gesture from the family to exist dealing with this loss and to be thinking and then how can they somehow make this tragic loss a benefit, a legacy for others," Wall told reporters in Regina.
The province may likewise launch a website — similar to 1 run by the Ministry building of Education in B.C. — that teens can utilise to written report bullying.
"In talking to Premier Clark, this is existence utilized, this online reporting is being used and authorities, teachers and principals and those in say-so are able to human activity," Wall said.
Resources if you or someone you lot know is experiencing suicidal thoughts: Locate a suicide crisis centre near y'all Kids Assist Phone: ane-800-668-6868
With files from the National Postal service, the Ottawa Citizen
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