Thousands of students across Saskatchewan donned pink shirts to school on Wednesday.
It’s part of Pink Day, an annual effort to raise awareness around bullying issues and to inspire students to take action.
Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive lineman Dan Clark spoke to students at a rally at Aden Bowman Collegiate in Saskatoon.
“It’s important for me because I was bullied in elementary school badly every day,” Clark said.
“I don’t want another Dan to go through the school system of not liking being at school, not liking being around that, and being fearful of the recess bell.”
WATCH BELOW: Students stand up against bullying through K+S Pink Day in Regina
Grade 11 student Zach Digout said Pink Day is important because it opens up the discussion on bullying.
“With something as simple as a pink shirt, you can show your advocacy and your allyship with people who are being bullied in a much simpler and more accessible way,” Digout said.
Pink Day started in 2007 when two students noticed a Grade 9 student being bullied by his classmates for wearing a pink shirt to a Nova Scotia high school.
“They decided to go home that night, send out a message over social media to encourage all of their classmates to come to school wearing pink,” Kelsi Prince, violence and abuse prevention program associate with Canadian Red Cross, said.
“The next morning they showed up and 800 of their classmates were decked out in pink to send a message of solidarity that it wasn’t going to happen in their school anymore,” Prince said.
This year’s Pink Day theme was “Be Someone’s Hero.”