Speaker, this is Bullying Awareness Week. In school boards across the province, classes are taking time to discuss ways to combat bullying in schools.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health reports that over one in five students have reported being bullied at school. Many of us in this House have experienced bullying as children or teens or have children that have experienced it.

Bullying can take many, many forms, including physical, verbal, written or even cyberbullying these days. Typically, it’s an aggressive behaviour that repeats over and over again. The results are that children and teenagers may develop mental health challenges, social anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem or even a physical illness, all because of bullying. They may become ashamed or discouraged to “tattle” on the bully.

To all the parents out there, please watch for signs that your child may be the victim of a bully. They may not want to go to school or join in activities. They may act differently than they normally do. They may start to lose money or personal items.

But most importantly, to the students across Ontario, please, remember that you are not alone. Tell an adult you trust. Talk to your friend or your sibling about it, or call the kids help line or text “CONNECT” to 686868. We, together, can stop bullying across Ontario.

Today, I want to talk about the Learning Disability Awareness Month flag-raising that I went to by the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury. It got me thinking about my son Sam. When he was in grade 3, my son Sam hated going to school—absolutely hated it. If there was a supply teacher, it was so difficult for him because he felt stupid, and we let him stay home if the supply teacher was there for more than one day.

The thing is that Sam had a learning disability. It was undiagnosed at the time, but because of that, although he’s a very bright young man, he felt like he was stupid. It’s organizations like the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury that worked with my son to help with adaptations so that he could be strong and successful as a student, like they do with many students.

At the flag-raising, we had members there from Sudbury Five, the basketball team, and Sudbury Wolves, our local hockey team, and one of the members, when he spoke, said, “We all play for Sudbury.” I love how that resonates with me; the importance of “we all play for Sudbury” and that these kids with learning disabilities can be so successful—so incredibly successful—with the right adaptations, the right way of looking the things, the right way of helping them to learn the way they were designed learn.

My son Sam, many years later, now almost 26, is going to be graduating. Next year he’ll be a teacher, and he’ll have that knowledge and information going forward, reaching other kids who learn differently, just like he did.