Alberta Premier Alison Redford has accepted an invitation from the Lac La Biche County's Protective Services department to take part in the community's first Pink Shirt Day to raise awareness towards anti-bullying initiatives. Redford's office confirmed her attendance at the Feb. 26 event earlier this week. Her attendance is just one component of an event that organizers hope will 'paint the entire community pink."
More than 600 students from regional schools will also be attending the day-long event that will see the Bold Center taken over with presentations, music and activities. Organizers say there will be guest speakers with strong connections to national anti-bullying campaigns, including an Airdrie teenager who recently helped her municipal leaders to update and implement stronger ant-bullyhing policies for their community. The students will also take part in activities organized by student leadership groups at area schools. Protective Services staff say the students will also be treated to live music and a lunch. Each student will also receive a special pink shirt to commemorate the day.
The Pink Shirt Day campaign began in a Nova Scotia school in 2007 when two Grade 12 students bought 50 pink shirts from a thrift store to hand out to their classmates a day after a Grade 9 boy had been bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school. Since the stand at the one school, the Pink Shirt campaign has spread across Canada. With ties to Eastern Canada, several new staff at the Lac La Biche County offices came up with the idea to host a similar rally in this community.
Initially planned as an invite-only celebration, county officials have decided to open the event at the Bold Center to the entire community. But no matter how many people attend the event, they are also hoping that the sea of pink that is expected to take over the Bold Center will spill out through the entire community. Organizers hope to go even further by asking everyone in the region to 'go pink' for the day. Lac La Biche and Plamondon residents are asked to dress in something pink for the day to bring awareness to all types of bullying, including verbal, physical and cyber-bullying.
As well as being asked to go pink, community members, local businesses and industry officials are also being invited to sponsor the event and the students who will be attending. Organizers say a $25 donation will cover the costs of the lunch, some of the entertainment and the pink t-shirts that will be ordered for all attendees.
