Ontario

We have a responsibility to follow in Ontario's foot steps address cyberbullying. Recently the Ontario Government has taken the cyber bull by the horns and began a strong campaign against cyberbullying. These stories depict the need for all roles to be addressed.

Due a recent high profile grade 8 suspension, the profile of CyberPolicy is gaining status a the new buzz word for schools in Ontario. The recent Facebook controversy is directly related to all the policy that Ontario is putting in place. Ontario grade 8 student, Bram Koch, was recently disiplined, along with 4 peers for derogatory comments they posted online in regards to a teacher. The [|Father says School too harsh on son] - see the video on this site of the interview with father and school principal. There are a couple interesting points of view, the father has questioned whether the school can discipline for actions outside of the school. He goes further in questioning the handling of the situation, by challenging the school for not getting him involved, both in the disipline but also with online tools. You can listen to the live interview with Anna Maria Tremonti from the May 2, 2007 podcast of [|The Current].

[|Micheal Giest], Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce, makes an interesting point about the balance of of legitimate free speech and cyberbullying. He states "It is certainly appropriate to take action against cyber-bullying, however students exercising legitimate free speech should not be punished simply because the speech occurs in a semi-private online forum rather than in a semi-private discussion on school grounds out of earshot of school officials." The balance remains a little ambiguous, and open for discretion. He goes further in reinforcing the need for cyber education, stating "In fact, educators should seize these opportunities to teach students about both the benefits and drawbacks of social media, while encouraging them to use the tools in positive ways." [|May 7th, 2007]

Ontario is making major strides in combating improper use of online tools by students. Recently they amended their //Safe Schools Act// to include a [|CyberBullying Law] making it legal for schools and teachers to discipline students for online activities outside the school. This is the first time that bullying will be formally regarded in law. Ontario Education Minster Kathleen Wynne states "We'll be providing training to vice-principals and principals on how to apply discipline in a non-discriminatory manner, including considerations for anti-racism, cross-cultural differences and accommodating students with disabilities."

In May 2007 the Ontario Ministry of Learning brought together a [|Student Forum]. "This first-ever student forum was held to generate discussion and gather insights on how students are using the Internet, cell phones and other online technologies. This was also the government's first step towards greater student engagement." This proactive approach is exactly what is needed in developing logical procedure and policy. The youth can not be left out of the equation, by staying up to date with their views we can better empower them to use these tools most appropriately.

It seems that some were listening to this conversation that I had on Newstalk 980 with John Gormley on May 2nd. John summarizes the issue at 17:58 of this clip. Then at 20:09 I come on attempting to present the case that everyone has a role in developing policy and consequences for Facebook and online controversies arise.

This news release from April 30th, 2007, [|Protecting Kids] highlights some major steps the government is taking in providing education on cyber safety. code The Ontario government provided $1 million to develop the bilingual software and create the training program for teachers. The software includes interactive games for Grade 7 and 8 students. These games help protect children against the dangers of the Internet by dealing with the issues of cyber-theft, extortion and Internet luring. code