More than 600 area students listened to the words of Tara Murphy in the Bold Center on Feb. 26 at the Pink Shirt Day to bring awareness to anti-bullying.
More than 600 area students listened to the words of Tara Murphy in the Bold Center on Feb. 26 at the Pink Shirt Day to bring awareness to anti-bullying. Murphy's daughter MacKenzie attempted suicide in 2012 after being the victim of bullying from students in the Airdrie school she was attending. The bullying grew from taunts to cyber attacks.
In the year since, the 14-year-old girl has rebounded to become a leader in the anti-bullying movement, including her active participation in strengthening her municipality's bylaws on bullying.
The mother and daughter team were part of a day-long event at the Bold Center hosted by Lac La Biche County's Protective Services department. Other guests included a teenager suffering from brain injury, a local author, local entertainers and Alberta Premier Alison Redford.
We'll have much more on the day-long event, which is part of a national campaign that first started in 2007 in a Nova Scotia school where a young student was bullied by other students for wearing a pink shirt. The next day two older students brought dozens of pink shirts to the school and handed them out as a show of solidarity and a pink wave of defense against bullying. Check the website for more videos and images, as well as our facebook and newspaper for stories, quotes and information on the Pink Shirt Day effect in the community.
