Father of teen who committed suicide pleads for anti-bullying bill that protects all students
By Deborah Gyapong
Canadian Catholic News
OTTAWA

The father of suicide victim Jamie Hubley made an emotional plea May 22 at an Ontario government social policy committee hearing that legislators adopt an anti-bullying bill that does not single out any group for special treatment.

The suicide of the openly gay teenager who committed suicide in October at the age of 15 became a driving force for Bill 13 of Ontario's Dalton McGuinty government, which mandates student-led "gay-straight alliances" (GSAs) even in Catholic schools, and considers hatred of homosexual people to be a main cause of bullying.

"I ask you to protect every child equally," Ottawa City Councillor Allan Hubley told public hearings in Ottawa on two proposed anti-bullying bills: Bill 14 (renamed Bill 80) and Bill 13.

Hubley said his son was the only openly gay person at his high school. Having a GSA for just one student "would have made him a target."

The bullying Jamie endured began after he began figure skating at the age of 5. It was often by boys who played hockey, Hubley said. "He was picked on relentlessly."

His son would befriend those who were bullied or hurting, and that also brought attacks. He publicly admitted to his homosexuality in the months prior to his death and had the full support of his family.

Hubley played down the idea that the Rainbow Club Jamie set up was a GSA or had a homosexual activist agenda. His son saw it as a place for everyone who was bullied for whatever reason, he said.

"Jamie spiralled into depression," and on his blog, he identified bullying and "relentless verbal abuse" as the cause," Hubley said. "He was broken."

"It's important that all kids go to one group to learn how to respect each other," he said. "This kind of club would provide safety in numbers."

Hubley urged the combining of the two bills, leaving out contentious elements that would give special status to some groups and not others.

The grieving father's testimony seemed to touch hearts, but it may not have changed minds of Liberal and NDP legislators who support the more contentious Bill 13, even though constitutional lawyers representing Christian groups have warned the bill as written will lead to years of taxpayer-funded litigation.

The Ottawa hearing opened with a salvo against Bill 13 from the Coalition for Parental Rights in Education. It was presented by constitutional lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos, a specialist in litigation who submitted an inch-thick reference document with tabs to various Supreme Court decisions protecting religious freedom.

Polizogopoulos outlined the problematic areas of Bill 13 that would invite a court challenge on constitutional grounds. "Nobody has a right to insist Catholic schools become non-religious or non-Catholic," he said.

The Ontario Provincial Council of the Catholic Women's League endorsed the Ontario Catholic School Trustee's Association's "Respecting Difference" anti-bullying policy on behalf of its 53,000 Ontario members.

The CWL brief also fully endorsed Bill 14, while raising several concerns about Bill 13, especially unsupervised student-led activities on sensitive subjects such as sexual orientation.

The bill would give the Minister of Education too much power regarding anti-bullying measures and policies, said Colleen Randall, chairwoman of the CWL's Ontario Legislation Standing Committee, and Anne Madden, chairwoman of the Ontario Resolutions Standing Committee.

They argued this power could be used "to implement in our Catholic schools various groups, committees, or policies that are contrary to our Catholic faith and to the philosophy of our Catholic school system which has been guaranteed to us by our constitution."

The CWL also raised concern over the emphasis on bullying against groups who self-identify by sexual parameters and the unclear definition of homophobia. "As Catholic women, we, of course, are opposed to bullying of any kind in the area of same-sex orientation in our schools," Randall said, adding "this area is quite sensitive and should be handled with compassion and care in the most confidential way by qualified adults and counsellors."

Psychiatrist Tim Lau told the committee that statistics show "bullying is twice as likely to occur for religious reasons as for reasons related to sexuality."

He warned Bill 13, if implemented without changes, could be used to attack people of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian faiths. He produced a quote from a website promoting GSAs called mygsa.ca that "Catholics are fundamentally homophobes."

"Will Catholic moral teaching be acceptable under the new act?" he asked.

Dr. Jonathan Ponesse, a pediatric neurologist, told the committee that theories of "gender identity" underlying Bill 13 are not based on science. Raising ideas of "gender fluidity" and ambiguity in young pupils, and encouraging children to think their sex is ambiguous, would cause uncertainty and make people believe that Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is normal, he said.

Just as a child with autism can be helped to have a better level of interaction with his or her family and society, so GID can be treated, he said.

The identity of children is rooted in their sex as boys or girls, he said. Children as they develop have binary ways of understanding reality: yes/no, right/wrong, and male/female, he said.

Four out of five of the more than two dozen presenters supported Bill 14, which is a more general anti-bullying bill, and opposed Bill 13 for giving special status to only some victims of bullying.

However Elaine McMahon, president of Ottawa unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association, spoke in favour of Bill 13, and said she was "astounded" that "homophobia exists and is supported."