Bullying can strike fear into the hearts of children as they set off for school, but parents are also left worrying what will happen to their kids after they wish them goodbye.
Natalie Martel said her whole family was affected when her son's friendship with another boy deteriorated to the point of death threats.
"He was grabbed from behind, put into a thumb choke hold where the thumbs are pressed against the Adam's apple," she said. "He threatened to slice him into pieces, to end his life, to kill him in front of the school so everyone could see him bleed."
Her son began to be bullied on a website called vampirefreaks.com to the point where the bully threatened to bring "a sawed-off shotgun and blow the father's snotty a** head off."
"I really thought at one point that my son was going to die at the hands of this bully," Martel said. "I really thought if the bully doesn't kill him, he will take his own life."
Her family went to both the school board and the police four years ago, with Martel saying they never heard anything more from either.
Both the Catholic school board and police wouldn't comment on specific cases, with the board saying situations are best handled by individual schools and police saying they look for alternatives to charges if possible.
Martel said she's still affected.
"I feel he's moved on more than I have," she said as she started to cry. "I feel I can't let go."
Father of bullied teen says he's carrying on his work after death
Ottawa city councillor Allan Hubley said he knows the pain that comes when bullying reaches its extreme conclusion.
His son Jamie, who was bullied for being openly gay, killed himself in October.
Hubley said along with the sadness there's a desire to work towards his son's dream.
"Jamie's version of the club was everybody fat, thin . . . each kid learns to understand their differences, respect them and support each other," he said.
Hubley is proposing to add a way to track how many students are expelled under a new piece of provincial legislation that allows schools to remove bullies.
"Bullying to me is a serious offence," he said. "We can't let kids off the hook for what they're doing, group hugs don't always work in bullying."
The fact that political parties are working together on a strong piece of legislation is encouraging, he said.
"We're sad he's not here to see the outcome himself," he said. "He checked out too early on this because he would have been happy that people are trying to do something."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Joanne Schnurr
Wednesday – Part Three of our special series looks at the science of why bullying hurts.
