This report was published by PrevNet.

HERE’S HOW THE AUTHORS DESCRIBE THIS REPORT:

Many schools have implemented bullying prevention programs. Parents are on high alert to detect signs and symptoms of bullying, and the media are rife with stories of bullying and how to stop it. But are we really doing everything we can to solve the problem of bullying?

There is considerable work to be done to promote safe and healthy relationships for Canadian children and youth according to Debra Pepler and Wendy Craig, the two experts leading PREVNet, a new Canadian network to address bullying in all of the places where children live, work, and play. They have found that while awareness of the pervasiveness of bullying in Canada has been growing slowly over the past two decades, our country’s ‘bullying rates’, which are dismally high relative to other countries, have not improved. They cite a recent World Health Organization (WHO) Health Behaviours in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey, on which Canada ranked a worrisome 26th and 27th out of 35 countries on measures of bullying and victimization, respectively. The survey also found that while other countries were improving their performance, Canada’s ranking had actually dropped.