The following statement was given today in the House of Assembly by the Honourable Joan Shea, Acting Minister Responsible for the Status of Women:

CyberSafe Girl Initiative Provides Valuable Guidance

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this Honourable House today to provide an update on the progress of Atlantic Canada’s CyberSafe Girl Initiative.

In August 2010, the Atlantic Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women held their first annual meeting and at this time they shared concerns on cyber-violence.

Cyber-violence is the use of the Internet to harm or intimidate another person and includes name calling, teasing, threatening, starting rumours, posting embarrassing or degrading pictures, or encouraging violence. Acts of cyber-violence take place through e-mail, social media websites such as Facebook or Twitter, blogs and online games.

To address this disturbing issue, the Atlantic ministers committed to creating an initiative that provides educational tools to youth, parents and educators.

From this commitment, the CyberSafe Girl Initiative was developed. This initiative focuses on creating awareness and preventing cyber-violence being perpetrated against young girls online. The Atlantic Ministers Responsible for the Status of Women were pleased to officially launch the CyberSafe Girl Initiative campaign in St. John’s on October 11, 2012 - International Day of the Girl.

Through the CyberSafe Girl Initiative, a website and three fact sheets were developed to promote safe Internet usage for young girls. These fact sheets, entitled 10 Tips for Girls, 10 Tips for Parents, and What Everybody Needs to Know, are available throughout Atlantic Canada. In our province, the Department of Education assisted with the distribution of the Cybersafe Girl fact sheets earlier this month to Newfoundland and Labrador schools with students in Grades 7 to 9.

The CyberSafe Girl Initiative was also recently showcased during the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York on March 6. During this international event, two of the Atlantic Canadian Status of Women Ministers presented background information on the initiative and highlighted interactive components, including the fact sheets and website, to emphasize that ending cyber-violence against girls is a global effort; one that our province is proud to be part of.

Mr. Speaker, the Atlantic ministers will continue to make progress and spread the word with this initiative in the collective effort to end cyber-violence. I encourage all families in Newfoundland and Labrador to join this effort by reviewing these fact sheets and visiting cybersafegirl.ca to learn more about cyber safety. Thank you.

2013 05 14                                      1:55 p.m.