Police, advocates hope P.E.I.'s Cyberbullying Awareness Day brings discussion, support

Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual extortion, or is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story.

With the P.E.I. Legislature set to enshrine April 25 as Cyberbullying Awareness Day in the province, advocates and authorities alike hope the day will create an opportunity for tough conversations to happen between parents and their kids.

The private member's bill brought forward by Souris-Elmira MLA Robin Croucher passed third reading unanimously on Thursday. He hopes it is given royal assent in time for the day to be recognized next month.

Police and cyberbullying advocates want to raise awareness around online sexual extortion, or sextortion, which happens when someone sends another person intimate images and then is blackmailed under the threat that the pictures will be shared widely. 

Jaime Griffin, who is running a series of cyberbullying workshops for adults and youth through Community Legal Information P.E.I., said it's important for both sides to be open and honest when discussing the pitfalls of interacting with others online. 

"It's easy to come at this topic with fear and with shame … so it's so important to have supportive conversations," Griffin said. "I think our kids want to be respected and they want to be understood, so being able to have those open conversations will go a little bit further than coming at it in a fear-based way."

Croucher brought forward his bill to honour the memory of Harry Burke, a 17-year-old Souris Regional High School student who died by suicide last year after being targeted by a sextortion scam. 

April 25 will be the first anniversary of Burke's death. 

Just hours before he died, he had started a conversation with a new contact on the social media platform Snapchat. The person posed as a teenage girl and tempted him into sharing intimate images. 

Once those pictures were sent, the contact threatened to destroy his life by releasing the photos if Burke didn't send money.

Online blackmail incidents like these are on the rise nationally. Police here on the Island call it a concerning trend. 

Sgt. Shaun Coady with the P.E.I. RCMP said it's heartbreaking stories like Burke's that make online sextortion so devastating. 

"The impacts can be extreme. People often think that it is the end of the road for them in terms of having those images shared, and that's very concerning," he said.

"We would recommend that they reach out to somebody and talk about it and recognize that it's not the end of things, they can get beyond that point."