SASKATOON – City council is putting the brakes on an anti-bullying bylaw that’s been met with mixed reviews in Saskatoon. Before making any amendments or considering other protocols, councillors will wait to hear input from schools in the city.
“That’s the outcome I wanted, for it to go back into the laps of the school division and for them to come forward and say we need this or we don’t need this,” said retired Saskatoon Police Sgt. Brian Trainor.
Before a report from the school boards come back, councillors will not be making any further decisions.
READ MORE: Anti-bullying bylaw in Saskatoon gets mixed reviews
At Monday meeting, councillors debated for hours about whether the bylaw would be enforceable, practical, excessive and how it would address cyber-bullying, which is covered by the federal government.
There were also talks of the bylaw resulting in criminalizing young people, something councillors say isn’t the intention.
Eileen Bear from the Saskatoon Coordinating Committee Against Police Violence says a bylaw is not the answer.
“There needs to be more mediation and talking circles instead of just criminalizing people,” she said.
Councillors Pat Lorje and Zach Jeffries shared their personal encounters with bullying, along with other parents.
“It is very sad that people are still saying in Saskatoon, in 2016, well if you don’t like it just move because I was a victim of bullying when I was in school. That was a solution adopted for me,” said Ward 2 City Coun. Pat Lorje.
Brigette Krieg’s daughter was targeted and later turned to drugs to cope.
“An experience that my daughter has said was a lot like being jumped into a gang only being tormented mentally and emotionally instead of physically. After that, it was like a switch went off in her. She avoided school and became extremely depressed and anxious.”
Police Chief Clive Weighill argues this bylaw could instead help decriminalize young people.
The thought behind this bylaw in my point of view is that it gave us that one step just below a criminal charge,” said Weighill.
“Rather than having to charge someone with criminal harassment, if the school’s came to a dead end and couldn’t resolve the issue, then they could call us and say ‘listen, we worked with the students and the parents, we can’t seem to resolve this. What’s the next step?’ Then maybe we could use a bylaw.”
If approved, the bylaw would kick off in September.