February 26, 2024

Pink Shirt Day 2024

This Wednesday is Pink Shirt Day in Canada. You are invited to wear the colour pink on Wednesday as a representation of a united stand against bullying in schools, the workplace and online. This is the story of the first Pink Shirt Day.

David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school. ‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’ So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled. The bullies were never heard from again.”

https://www.pinkshirtday.ca/about

Watch this video from the Canadian Museum of Human Rights to hear the story of how Pink Shirt Day got started.