MCA STAFF, AMBE STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN PINK SHIRT DAY

February 22nd marks the annual “Pink Shirt Day,” a Canada-wide movement that promotes taking a stand against bullying. The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne’s Child & Family Services (ACFS) provided pink shirts to staff and community members who wished to participate in this year’s event.

 

What started as a protest organized by two high school teenagers in Nova Scotia became a Canada-wide movement. The teens, David Shepherd and Travis Price, organized a protest amongst their classmates, and all agreed to wear pink in a show of support for a Grade 9 boy who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt days prior. David and Travis purchased and passed out pink t-shirts to the boys in their school for them to wear. The group stood in the school entryway and greeted the bullied boy in their pink shirts to show him they took a stand against him being bullied. Word on the teen boys’ actions quickly spread across Canada, with several schools, programs, and Boys & Girls Clubs marking the event on an annual basis.

 

To partake in 2023’s Pink Shirt Day, ACFS and the Akwesasne Boys & Girls Club Northern Clubhouses (clubhouses in the AMBE districts) collaborated to handout 400 pink t-shirts to MCA staff, community members, and Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Board of Education (AMBE) students who wanted to show their unity in standing up against bullying. Staff and students proudly wore their pink shirts throughout the day. 

 

Nia:wen/Thank you to Akwesasne Child & Family Services for the pink shirts which were provided, and nia:wen/thank you to the staff and students who proudly participated in this year’s Pink Shirt Day.

 

For more information on Pink Shirt day, you can visit www.pinkshirtday.ca.