Many are still searching for answers after a young teacher’s disappearance from a classroom in St. Catharines, Ontario, Ontario in the summer of 2002.
After Phillip Varney went missing, an aerial image was released showing the 49-year-old’s suspected sighting in New York, taken by a school surveillance camera,. He was found unharmed in New York after being found by a woman who recognized him.
While investigations are ongoing, eight years later the case remains open and remains an active case.
This plea from a family whose loved one was hurt by a student has brought a call to action from Ontario to raise awareness of bullying.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Education’s website, the province had 63,258 students involved in bullying in 2015. In Canada, two million children are bullied every day.
Searches have found two cases of apparent suspensions following the suicide of a student, calls in to the Ontario ombudsman’s office and a boost in public attention to violence against Indigenous children.