Kids learn to stand up to intimidation

Intimidation at school is a phenomenon that can take varied and sundry forms, sometimes far away from the prying eyes of authority figures. What’s more, intimidation is a day-to-day reality at some St. Laurent schools, Montreal police community-relations agent Rachel Arcelin. "We receive calls about this subject regularly. Even if it’s been calmer since the summer, last spring was a rough time, especially when it came to high-school students," she said.

Facing a potential danger to students, the St. Laurent school system is taking the matter in hand and drawing up ideas to fight intimidation on their blackbboards.

Enfant-Soleil school was chosen for the launch of a series of events (see graphic) that will unfold over the next four weeks.

Dupuis, also the MNA for St. Laurent, was on hand to present the $50,000 grant to Comité d'action de Saint-Laurent official Gilles Fournier. "I’m especially sensitive to the importance of giving our young people the tools to help them make the right choices," he said.

The school’s students prepared a small theatre piece for the launch and observers heard from the school’s student-council president Omar Youssef. The pedagogical-tool-box presentation displayed by two psycho-educators was also seen, and the piece will make its round of other schools in the coming weeks.

Two other theatre pieces were on the program, Visages à trois faces (Tripled Faced), played out in the first person, which will be shown to fourth- and fifth-grade students on Dec. 3 and 4. Arrête, ce n'est pas drôle (Stop it, it’s not funny) is staged by Grade 11 students at St. Laurent High School and presented to incoming sixth-grade students. "We’re trying to put tools in the hands of kids and adults, in order to help them maintain a better quality of life," said Fournier, the healthy-schools co-ordinator for the CSSS Bordeaux-Cartierville/St. Laurent. According to Fournier, "some kids in public schools in the borough are vulnerable to a certain extent."

The program will involve 4,500 St. Laurent elementary-school students.

CAM-LAU, a very involved community group, is looking to expand the program into a second area – the sporting milieu. (Translated by Marc Lalonde)