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A8-The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 487 Laurierm.e 878-2881 - Students Iearn to spread anti-bullying message By Jason Misner SPECIAL TO THE CHAMPION A otenhial employer tri- tqnga job applicant forgap g a ableasm.mo A girl ridiculed for promiscuous sex wbile a maie is cheered for it is sexasm. A girl scared off by anoEher girl fEor declaring shes gay is heterosexasm. Fach of Ebese scenarios was acEed out in a skit as part of a recent two-day worksbop at Central Arena in BurlingEon to enltgbten Y'oung peosple about the roui causes of bullying and violence and Eheir detnimental impact onu socaetNý T he 'Erksbop also aîmcd Eto dîspel tbe percepton that affluent Halton as free of sucb social problems. (alled Speak i1p!, thc wtirkshAps * were Srganlzed by ReAci, ~a program tii * tbe %îctrAptAltan .ýctltll tîmînîlec oit Violence Againsi 'Viomen antI (biltîrcu (MFTRAC) aînd C ollssmunlily- * Development Haîttin MoTre iban 301 ytAtth, AT ibicir înîd lii- late-teens, spent part ofitîheir March Break leamning bow TEX deal with bully- ang while leamaing bow Ito conduct sîm- alar workshops withîn tbeir AAwf scbools. Thie two days were hroken up into a series of activities illustraîîng tbe barim of bullying and violence and teacbing the participants how to create sîmilar workshops to bning to their peers. Seventeen-year-old Burlington high school student Nicole Guarascaa said she signed up to take part in the anti- violence workshop because she bas seen oppression at sebool and wants 10 make a positive difference. Sbe's particularly keen on learning to conduct a worksbop to spread the message of tolerance and understand- ing. 1I tbink oppression is a big problem in Burlington," tbe grade 12 student said. "I see a lot of it in bigb school." For example, sbe said there were posters plastered at sebool alerting stu- dents to a Web site to deal witb bomo- phobia and many were ripped dlown. Also, Guarascia said sbe's seen inci- dents of classism - a bias based on social or economie class - due to the style of clotbing a person wears. "It comes down to that age old tbing - if you don't bave good clothes you're not cool," sbe said, as otbers had split BRRIE EASKINE / CANADIAN C HAMPION SPEAKING UP: Above (from lefE), Claudia Rios, Chelsea Takalo, Alyssa Asomani and George Phu put on a skit sendtng a message about raoism during youth workshop 'Speak Up!" held at Central Arena in Burlington during the March Break. At right, the high school students perform another skit showîng an example of sexism. into groups to discuss issues of dis- crimination. Miseba Edwardb, a grade 12 student from Burlington, joined the worksbop to arm bimself witb awareness about different types of oppression. For example, he said be didn't know mucb about beterosexism untîil the worksbop and now bas a better understanding. Ahi Sale, a social worker wirth Community Development Halton, said one of the key reasons for enlisting help from METRAC was to provide Hailton teens a venue to speak, and to especial- ly break down the notion nothing neg- ative bappens in the region. Far too ofîen people point to Toronto as the place where bad things happen and thats simply not true, Sabole said. She said issues like bomopbobia or sexism are underlyang roots to bullying tbat can Esecur anywhere. By teaching individuals tbe negative consequences of these kinds of acts, she says hopeful- ly the bullying will stop. The intent is to create a network of awareness "to feel safe and to speak up against those things," Sabole said. "We want 10 provide a space for Young people to talk about tbeir expe- riences of violence and bullying they have seen, heard of or parEicipated in," said Farrafi Byckalo-Khan, co-ordina- tor of ReAct. One of tbe lessons from the segment discussing negative behaviour via a skit was to teach people not to perpetuate sncb actions. "lEs about being an ally to people." 7ACOGECQ " Cogeco Cable Channel 14 Programming SChedUle - Tuesday, March 28- Monday, April 3,2006 1I'ily L.ocal billesiofl tRO11p.r Plu lo M TRA i AallA ii AuI CAsAI 12:0p SuIT Tal k 1:m GeAXTwn Hockey A 30pm TAC Spots t :30am TTC Sports à A i 00pm MIton Couil 6:0p Plf InXTRA Mai 20 2M0 (te 0y)ý =esoie AivaiXa AL HACAn Haocke PAyo Mai',20 2006 www.cgeco.ca A:p i T Bingo 3:00pm - A'I0 eX Plugen EXTRA 1:00pm A 6 Opm Plugg AI EXTRA AXApm 5 Xtprn Plugger n! EXTRA Chicago as ami Stuville vs iakville TOpi As l (Lepont outie A s LvngHafs tim PmsA n XR 930pm -MiduugAi Plugged I!EXTRA Ganme A :0m-80p Plged Int EXTA iLi.i ~ ~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ OOOmTeBton n :0m LqgHeb :p imei o XR :0pm A 00pmuggedg In! EXTRA OPM SAotA ZONE Lsve NORTH HALTOII STUDIO T 0p PIAggel I EXTRA A:0p AX0pmuggaed Ini EXTRA 70p T h iv do RXitX ie 6XAs XOA 9pm Piuggeit In EXTRA 9 QAprn MiAiXA Plugged In' EXTRA A.0p Aut Exaeie 1:01m tva 181k A:0p AfApis Puge AI EXTRA 9:0Api TIC Sports A OApm Miltoni CAuhsil Launer Mlz 9ýDr Hai iii iAX 5 Ji HXckey -îvhu Mai 20 2006 La h rPa a90 a5Xiv Muis stdci I,0 Milton ssunii CXaunil Chicago vamito 5 La ervneMar20 2006 Mar27 2X006 Ma 9 00 AQA0pm 10 30m ggedlIn!EXR At A e~M ugge IciEXTR 51 Opsi OMeaA Piuggd lU EXTA 25RO~a Mikugfl Muggvi An!EXTR 50SportAC s:sii rJrA Mikon, ON L9T 4R3 AtiualkM 0sAkvile 905-78-9306