News·School Violence

Q&A | How do we deal with violence in Canadian schools?

More than one-third of students between the ages of 14 and 21 say they were physically assaulted at least once before reaching high school, according to a survey commissioned as part of our School Violence series. Our panel of experts answer your questions about what parents and students can do.

Our journalists and experts answer your questions

School Violence is a CBC News series examining the impact of peer-on-peer violence on students and parents. (Roman Bodnarchuk/Shutterstock)

What can parents do to address violence in our schools? And what can students do if they're being targeted or they see it happening to someone else? Marketplace's David Common, CBC data journalist Valérie Ouellet and youth advocate Karyn Kennedy talked about our investigation into school violence and helped answer some of your questions. 

Watch the Q&A on Facebook, Twitter or the YouTube video below. 

More than one-third of students between the ages of 14 and 21 say they were physically assaulted at least once before reaching high school, according to a survey commissioned as part of our School Violence series. It was conducted by Mission Research for CBC News.

The survey examined the impact of peer-on-peer violence on students and parents.

The results reveal 41 per cent of boys say they were physically assaulted at high school, 26 per cent of girls say they experienced unwanted sexual contact at school, and one in four students first experienced sexual harassment or assault before Grade 7.

If you're not getting the help you need from the adults in your life, you can reach out to Kids Help Phone by texting CONNECT to 686868 or by calling 1-800-668-6868.

Did you see or experience a violent incident at your school? It's important to report what happened. Here are some helpful tips for how to do it safely.

CBC News consulted with Tracy Vaillancourt, a violence prevention expert at the University of Ottawa, Debra J. Pepler, co-founder of PREVNet and Wendy Craig, director of PREVNet when writing these tips. (CBC)

If you're a parent and looking for help on how to talk to your child about reporting violence, here are some helpful tips

CBC News consulted with Tracy Vaillancourt, a violence prevention expert at the University of Ottawa, Debra J. Pepler, co-founder of PREVNet and distinguished research professor at York University, and Wendy Craig, director of PREVNet when writing these tips.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Avneet Dhillon is a Producer with CBC News based in Toronto. You can reach her at: avneet.dhillon@cbc.ca