Anti-Bullying Day
May 4, Saturday
Anti-Bullying Day (or Pink Shirt Day) is an annual event, held in Canada and other parts of the world, where people wear a pink-coloured shirt to stand against bullying.
The initiative was started in Canada, where it is held on the last Wednesday of February each year. In New Zealand, Anti-Bullying Day is celebrated in May.
The original event was organized in 2007 by twelfth-grade students David Shepherd and Travis Price of Berwick, Nova Scotia, who bought and distributed 50 pink shirts after a ninth-grade student Chuck McNeill was bullied for wearing a pink polo shirt during the first day of school at Central Kings Rural High School in Cambridge, Nova Scotia. That year, Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald proclaimed the second Thursday of September (aligning with the start of each school year) as "Stand Up Against Bullying Day" in recognition of these events.
In 2008, then-Premier of British Columbia, Gordon Campbell proclaimed February 27 to be the provincial Anti-Bullying Day. In 2009, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada worked on pink t-shirts that say "Bullying Stops Here." and "Pink Shirt Day" for Anti-Bullying Day.
In May 2009, New Zealand celebrated its first Pink Shirt Day.
In 2012, the United Nations declared May 4 as U.N. Anti-Bullying Day. Similarly, UNESCO declared the first Thursday of November as the International Day against Violence and Bullying at School Including Cyberbullying.