When talking about gender-based violence with young people, what we often hear and see is silence, discomfort and stigma. Breaking through that wall can be tough. “My job is to break down the walls when it comes to this topic – it can be hard,” said Kieran Poissant, BC Lions Football Club wide receiver.
That’s exactly the barrier Ending Violence Association of BC’s Be More Than a Bystander high school program is designed to address.
EVA BC’s Bystander high school program, delivered in partnership with the BC Lions Football Club, directly addresses this challenge. The program started its annual visits to secondary schools this January, with BC Lions players — and for the first time, a member of the BC Lions Dance Team — giving presentations to students on how to recognize and respond to gender-based violence.
The program runs from January to April with the Lions visiting 25 high schools across the province, reaching thousands of students.
During the presentation, students learn about the many forms of gender-based violence: from stalking and harassment to physical violence — and how they show up in person and online. One key moment asks students how they would respond to someone drowning. The answer is immediate: you wouldn’t stand by. The presenters then make that parallel to gender-based violence — that a bystander response needs to be just as urgent, and the solutions can be just as simple.
At each visit, local frontline anti-violence workers are on hand to support any students who have questions or concerns about gender-based violence.
On January 29, BC Lions presenters Kieran Poissant and Casey Beattie, BC Lions Dance Team member, spoke with grade 8 and 9 students at Templeton Secondary School in East Vancouver. It was their second presentation of the day and for Casey her first day with the program.
Kieran explained, “This morning, we went to Seycove Secondary in North Vancouver. The students were very engaged. It was a lot of fun.”
He also gave presentations earlier in the week in Delta and Surrey.
“Every group that I’ve been a part of so far is different just in terms of personality and how willing they are,” said Kieran. “By the end of the day when we get through to these kids and we say, ‘hey this is something to talk about; it’s okay to raise your hand,’ most of the crowds I’ve had are willing to break down that wall.”
Casey reflected on her first presentation in North Vancouver.
“You could tell they were listening. Which is very nice, as a speaker, to see the students taking in the information. It’s going to be different with every group. The first couple of times we asked a question it was crickets, but we were like, ‘you guys got it — we want to hear from you’ and then they got comfortable and by the end we got a fair share of hands and people talking to us, which was great.”
At Templeton Secondary, both Kieran and Casey shared stories about witnessing gender-based violence — moments that made the issue real and relatable for students.
Before the BC Lions go to the schools, they take part in a two-day training session on the Bystander program with EVA BC. Kieran and Casey reflected on that experience.
“We spent a lot of time really diving deep into this topic and educating ourselves,” said Kieran. “It was outstanding. I’ve learned so much about it that I never knew before and that was great.”
Casey reflected on how it helped her to have EVA BC’s executive director, Ninu Kang, as one of the trainers. “It was great, personally, to have her there, as another female, because going into it I was like ‘oh is it just going to be me and all the boys?’ When it’s a lot of talking about gender-based violence against women and being in the room as a woman, having the boys’ support and having Ninu there as well just made it ten times better.”
As the students at Templeton shouted out, “be more than a bystander!” the message is clear: conversations like these matter.
Learn more about the Be More Than a Bystander high school program and EVA BC’s partnership with the BC Lions Football Club and watch Be More Than a Bystander videos on EVA BC’s YouTube channel.
