Bullying can take on many forms. It can be:

• Physical: pushing, shoving, hitting or spitting on someone.
• Verbal: insulting, repeatedly disparaging or threatening someone.
• Subtle: following a person regularly, even constantly, making them fear for their safety.

When bullying occurs in cyberspace, it is called cyberbullying.

Denigration, isolation, insults, rumours and threats are among the most common acts of cyberbullying. Sometimes their authors identify themselves, while others choose to act anonymously.

Although bullying is an offence in the Criminal Code, its legal definition rarely corresponds to the problematic situations that can arise between young people in a school setting. In fact, the term “bullying” is often used to define contexts in which young people are subjected to hurtful comments or repeated intimidating gestures. While this type of context is difficult and stressful for the victim, rarely these actions fall within the Criminal Code definition of bullying.

In short, not all bullying or cyberbullying committed in a school setting is necessarily criminal under the law. In order for a criminal complaint to be filed, police officers must look at the context in which the bullying occurs. In discussions with the child or youth being bullied, police will seek to determine whether one or more criminal offences may have been committed, and if so, on which basis legal action may be taken.

Examples of Criminal Code offences that can be charged:

• Criminal harassment
• Assault
• Threats
• Harassing comments
• Extorsion or sextorsion (video in French only)
• Possession, distribution or production of child pornography
• Non-consensual publication of an intimate/private image
• Defamatory libel*
• Harassing phone calls
• Suggesting or encouraging suicide
• Incitement to hatred

*Defamatory libel is material published without lawful justification or excuse and likely to damage the reputation of any person by exposing him or her to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or intended to offend the person against whom it is published. However, this section of the Criminal Code is rarely used in a school setting.

If you encounter or become aware of any of the following situations, contact the SPVG immediately:

• There is a threat of physical harm or violence of any kind towards an individual;
• A bully follows someone or communicates constantly by harassing them, making them fear for their safety;
• Sexually explicit or intimate photos of a child under the age of 18 are sent or disseminated;
• A computer is hacked or a fake social media page is created using another person's name to facilitate bullying or harassment;
• Someone is experiencing distress due to bullying.

Sometimes, no criminal offence within the definition of the law can be identified in connection with the acts of intimidation. In other cases, legal action simply cannot be taken because the person at fault is not of the age required to be considered criminally responsible for those acts. For more information, please visit the Youth Criminal Justice Act Web page.  

While no legal action can be taken against the bully in these specific cases, this does not mean that the situation is not serious or acceptable, nor does it mean that the victim should be left to fend for themselves.

When events take place in a school setting, the following measures are put in place to stop bullying and to help victims:

• School Cooperation
  Police work closely with school authorities to find solutions. To request the involvement of the police officer assigned to your child's school, please contact the SPVG at 819-246-0222.
• Youth Awareness
  Through the Partenaires V.I.P. in elementary schools and the Programme A.V.I.S.E. in high schools, our school police officers do prevention work every year with students at the various levels.
• Resources Exist
  Victims are also referred to community resources that can guide and support them.

• Listen to them.
• Encourage them to report the situation to a school staff member.
• Advise them to record all incidents in a notebook with as much detail as possible (date, time, location, attendees, who did what, etc.).
• If cyberbullying is involved, keep a copy of emails, text messages, conversations and other types of communication. Screen shots are a good idea to make sure you have a copy of the evidence in case it is erased by the bully.
• Don't hesitate to contact us at 819-246-0222.

On the web, it is easy to feel falsely invincible and to believe that our comments can remain anonymous. Some people allow themselves to say things or do things that go much further than if they were in the presence of other people, rather than alone behind their screens.
Let's educate our youth to avoid being the harasser or the one that's being harassed:

• The Internet is a public space and therefore nothing is really private, not even the “private” conversations you have with other Internet users. They could be shared or distorted by people who were involved.
• Before we share information with someone, we must always ask ourselves whether we would be willing to share it with a large number of people. If that is not the case or if we are in doubt, don't share the information.
• Everything we do on the web leaves a trail. Both aggressors and victims need to be aware of that.