ARGONAUTS.CA STAFF
TORONTO – On Wednesday, February 26, Toronto Argonauts S Matt Black, at a school assembly as part of the team’s Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program,
presented by Tim Hortons, will wear a pink shirt in support of bullying prevention efforts across North America.
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Toronto native Matt Black and Argonauts staff will visit Carleton Village Junior and Senior Sports & Wellness Academy in Toronto, Ontario where they will wear pink shirts during a Huddle Up student assembly. In its 13th year, Huddle Up has used the personal stories of Toronto Argonauts football players, cheerleaders and staff to encourage friendship, inclusion and tolerance, and reduce or eradicate bullying.
Now in its sixth year, “Pink Shirt Day” is a North American-wide movement that works to mobilize students and adults to wear pink in a show of solidarity for bullying prevention efforts. Travis Price, then a grade 12 student in Nova Scotia, stood up for a grade 9 student who was targeted and bullied for wearing a pink t-shirt on his first day of school. Price and his classmate David Shepherd decided to purchase 50 pink shirts to wear to school the next day. When other classmates joined in, they realized that bullying only has power if no one stands up against it, and so a movement was born. Millions of people across the continent now take part in Pink Shirt Day annually.
As of 2014, the Argonauts Huddle Up Bullying Prevention Program has reached more than 500,000 G.T.A. students ranging in age from 8-18, as well as thousands of their parents, with impactful and powerful messages. In 2009, the Huddle Up program became recognized on the Ministry of Education’s Registry of Bullying Prevention Programs. The Argonauts are the only Canadian sports team to have a program registered.