Ottawa funding new P.E.I. cyberbullying programs
Community Legal Information will create programs for youth and adults
A group that helps people find legal information in P.E.I. is getting $600,000 to create education programs on cyberbullying.
Community Legal Information (CLI) will be receiving the funding for the programs from Ottawa, federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced Wednesday in Charlottetown.
The money will be used to educate both young people and the adults who support them on how to deal with cyberbullying and cyber violence, CLI executive director Ellen Mullally said.
"People are just feeling kind of at a loss of how to support, and people are feeling helpless," Mullally said.
"This is one step in the direction of trying to empower and [get] people to make informed decisions."
Mullally said hearing a young person say they're a victim of cyberbullying can be difficult to handle.
"Often the feedback we get is that people don't know what to do or where to go when they get this kind of disclosure," she said.
"That seemed like a pretty big gap that we wanted to fill."
Many youth impacted
One in four people youth aged 12 to 17 reported being the victims of cyberbullying in 2018, according to a report released by Statistics Canada earlier this year.
That statistic is likely underreported, Mendicino said.
"It's so important that we empower organizations like Community Legal Information P.E.I., so that they can develop workshops, tools, resources to empower young people to make good choices on the basis of good information," the minister said.
CLI plans to develop workshops and other training for parents, caregivers, teachers, and other adult supporters with the funds.
The organization also wants to educate young people on how to behave online — and the impacts cyberbullying can have on others.
"We just want to work with young people to support them in developing the critical thinking skills they need to be respectful towards others and themselves in an online world," Mullally said.
'It leads to anxiety, it leads to depression'
Hannah Barton, a youth program coordinator with PEERS Alliance, said the funding is welcome news.
She said cyberbullying is a big problem among the youth she works with.
"People are so impacted by it that it leads to anxiety, it leads to depression," Barton said.
She added having programs for adults to learn more on the subject is also important.
"You can't have a program that's only geared towards youth if you're anticipating that part of that program is, 'Okay, go to your trusted adult,'" she said.
"You're putting the cart before the horse and you don't even know you're in a race."
CLI is planning to partner with organizations that serve youth on this project, Mullally said.
"It could be a school, it could be a youth group," she said. "Anywhere where youth are, that's what we're interested in partnering."
Mullally encouraged interested groups to reach out to Community Legal Information.
With files from Sheehan Desjardins