Bill 80 explained in plain English
Anti-Bullying Act, 2012
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Anti-Bullying Act, 2012, establishes Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week in Schools and amends the Education Act to define bullying, mandate prevention strategies, and create reporting and accountability mechanisms within schools.
This bill, called the Anti-Bullying Act, 2012, introduces measures to address bullying in Ontario schools. It designates a specific week each year as 'Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week in Schools.' The bill also amends the Education Act to define bullying more broadly, including cyber-bullying, and to establish requirements for school boards, principals, and educators regarding bullying prevention. This includes developing bullying prevention plans, providing instruction and remedial programs, reporting bullying incidents, and implementing disciplinary actions.
- Designates the week beginning with the third Sunday in November each year as "Bullying Awareness and Prevention Week in Schools."
- Amends the Education Act to include a definition of bullying, which covers severe or repeated actions by pupils that cause harm, fear, a hostile environment, infringe on legal rights, or disrupt the school.
- Includes cyber-bullying as a form of bullying within the definition.
- Specifies that bullying occurs in a school if it happens on school property, public property within 50 metres of a school, during school-related activities, through school-provided technology, or through other technology if it affects the school's operation or orderly environment.
- Requires school boards to provide instruction on bullying prevention, remedial programs for victims and perpetrators, professional development for teachers, and public information on bullying.
- Requires the Minister of Education to develop a model bullying prevention plan.
- Requires school boards to establish their own bullying prevention plans, which must be approved by the Minister.
- Requires principals to investigate reports of bullying and take specific actions, including notifying parents, law enforcement if criminal charges may apply, and implementing disciplinary measures.
- Requires teachers, staff, and volunteers to report observed bullying incidents to the principal.
- Requires principals to report annually to the school board on bullying incidents, and the board to forward this to the Minister.
- Mandates that the Minister compile and make available a database of information on recognizing and dealing with bullying.
- Sets out the commencement dates for various provisions of the Act.
- Pupils (victims and perpetrators of bullying)
- Teachers
- School staff and volunteers
- Principals
- School boards
- Parents and guardians of pupils
- The Minister of Education
- Law enforcement agencies (in cases where criminal charges may be laid)
- Obligation for teachers, staff, and volunteers to report observed bullying to the principal.
- Obligation for principals to investigate bullying reports and take action.
- Obligation for school boards to develop and implement bullying prevention plans.
- Obligation for school boards to provide instruction, remedial programs, and professional development related to bullying.
- Right for individuals to report bullying confidentially.
- Right for victims of bullying to receive assistance and for perpetrators to participate in remedial programs.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent, except for certain sections which come into force on September 1, 2012 (specifically subsection 4(1) and sections 5, 6, and 7).
- Disciplinary action may be taken against pupils who engage in bullying.
- Disciplinary action may be taken against individuals found to have falsely accused another person of bullying.
- The bill outlines procedures for principals to take disciplinary action and requires school boards to include such measures in their prevention plans.
- The bill does not specify the exact content or curriculum for the bullying prevention instruction beyond requiring it to be age-appropriate and conform to ministry guidelines.
- While the Minister develops a model plan, school boards are responsible for establishing their own plans, subject to ministerial approval, implying variations in implementation.
- The effectiveness of remedial programs and the specific nature of disciplinary actions are not exhaustively detailed in the bill text, beyond outlining the purpose and potential scope.
- The bill states that the model bullying prevention plan developed by the Minister is not a policy or a regulation.
- Ministerial approval of school board plans does not require a hearing.
- The bill does not specify the exact content or format of the professional development programs for teachers, other than their purpose.
Modifies the definition of bullying, expands where bullying is considered to occur within a school context, adds requirements for school boards regarding bullying prevention instruction, programs, and professional development, establishes procedures for principals to handle bullying incidents and report them, and introduces new sections on provincial and board-level bullying prevention plans.
Source: Section 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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