Pink Shirt Day started in 2007 to raise awareness about bullying
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Some members of Canada’s ag community showed support for Pink Shirt Day.
The day, celebrated on the last Wednesday of February, encourages people to wear pink shirts to raise awareness about bullying.
“Pink Shirt Day, we are ready, (a)re you!!” the Strathmore, Alta. branch of Core Ag Inputs posted on X.
A photo of a pink shirt with the company’s logo accompanies the post.
Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan is also recognizing Pink Shirt Day on social media.
“On Pink Shirt Day, we choose kindness over bullying,” the organization said on X. “Today, we’re joining hands to raise awareness about bullying among our young generation. In everything you do, choose kindness!”
BASF Canada posted a photo on its X account too.
Employees wore pink “to celebrate #PinkShirtDay, a day to raise awareness against bullying and discrimination, and show support for welcoming, caring, respectful, safe, and inclusive communities. This is what BASF is all about! #belongatBASF”
Ag has been used to spread messages of inclusiveness in other mediums.
Take the story Spookley the Square Pumpkin, for example.
In this story, Spookley, a square pumpkin, lives on a farm with other round pumpkins who tease him because of the way he looks.
When a storm hits the farm before Halloween, the wind blows some of the round pumpkins through a gap in the fence. Using his square shape to his advantage, Spookley is able to block the gap.
When the farmer sees how Spookley helped, the farmer plants more square pumpkins to have around the farm.
The story aims to help children learn about kindness, tolerance and acceptance.
And Dawn Thompson’s book, Barnyard Bully, uses farm animals to tell the story.
“The horses can’t get along. The cats are a mess, and the goats are fighting. And the rooster is the biggest bully of them all! You can learn how to stop bullying before it starts,” the book’s description says.
Two Canadians are credited with starting Pink Shirt Day.
David Shepherd and Travis Price, two grade 12 students in Nova Scotia at the time, started the day in 2007 when they bought and distributed 50 pink shirts to support Chuck McNeil, a ninth-grade student who was bullied for wearing a pink shirt on the first day of school.