Every year in Canada, Pink Shirt Day is observed on the last Wednesday in February to take a stand against bullying.

The first Pink Shirt Day took place in 2007. It was inspired by the efforts of two Grade 12 students in Nova Scotia, who distributed pink shirts to all of the boys at their school in a show of solidarity for a grade 9 boy who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt.

Bullying includes behaviours such as physical aggression, verbal abuse, exclusion, or online harassment that are repeated; these behaviours humiliate, intimidate, cause physical and emotion harm, and traumatize the person who is being bullied. Over 75% of people say that they have experienced bullying.

Youth who are bullied experience long-term impacts to their physical and mental health, including stress-related illnesses, low self-esteem, and suicidality (BullyingCanada, 2025).

To learn more about how to support youth who are being bullied, please visit BullyingCanada, here.

To learn more about Pink Shirt Day, please visit The CKNW Kids’ Fund’s Pink Shirt Day website, here.