Back in the news this week (July 12, 2008), here’s a Canadian term defined by Bill Belsey, a Canadian educator now living in Cochrane, Alberta, who coined the word. “Cyberbullying,” writes Bill, “involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal websites, and defamatory online personal polling websites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.”

Meeting this week in Moncton, New Brunswick, the Canadian Teachers’ Federation drafted a policy that would seek from the federal government legislation that makes cyberbullying a criminal offense. Not heeding civil liberty guardians, the teachers’ federation thinks that Canadian police do not have sufficient legal tools to investigate and punish various forms of online bullying. Social work experts say the teachers’ concern is not an overreaction but that making cyberbullying criminal would be. The teachers want their classrooms and their students protected from cyber-misconduct and they want that protection made explicit by provincial ministries of education and provincial workers’ compensation boards.

Here’s a Canadian term defined by Bill Belsey, a Canadian educator now living in Cochrane, Alberta, who coined the word. “Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, defamatory personal websites, and defamatory online personal polling websites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behaviour by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others.”

Bill Belsey states in an email to me, “I thought that I might share a word I first used about seven years ago to describe and define a new behaviour, ‘cyberbullying.’ You may be interested to learn that I have been repeatedly cited as the first person to use this word and define this new behaviour.”

Check out his website www.cyberbullying.ca

Bill describes it thus: “This is the world’s first and only website specifically dedicated to the emerging issue of cyberbullying.”

Bill’s interesting biography is available at http://www.inukshuk.com/William_Belsey.html

As kids all across Canada start back to school, here’s a timely note from Bill Belsey: “We would like to encourage you, your organization, and your community to participate in national “Bullying Awareness Week” which will be held from November 14th until the 20th, 2005.”

Check out more tips to prevent this abuse at www.bullying.com

© 2005

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