It was 11 years ago that two boys in Cambridge, Nova Scotia took a stand against bullying by wearing pink shirts. Little did they know, that one small act to stand against bullying would result in the global event called "Pink Shirt Day" to encourage anti-bullying.

Since 2007, when Pink Shirt Day started, more and more schools, businesses, people, and organizations have participated in an attempt to try and end the problem that is bullying.

One of those organizations is the Red Cross, who has created and supported many initiatives among students and communities to spread the message that bullying is not okay.

To show their support, the Red Cross hosts multiple Pink Shirt Days in Canada every year, with one coming up February 28 in Saskatchewan.

The City of Swift Current has joined with the Red Cross this year and proclaimed the week from February 18 to February 28 Pink Shirt Week.

Jan Radwanski is the outreach coordinator with the Saskatchewan Red Cross and talked about what it means for the city to make the proclamation.

"It's a great indication of the support that the community has for anti-bullying campaigns," he said. "Red Cross has been a leader in facilitating respect, and education in our communities, especially in our schools. When a municipality can recognize that and promote it to all citizens it's a good sign; we have also had good feedback on our training."

Radwanski said that the week will focus on the same things that Pink Day usually does.

"It focuses that in our schools and in our communities that people know that the colour pink is representing their education around anti-bullying," he said. "Even though we are practicing the anti-bullying environment, year-round Pink Day just puts a focus on it and kind of re-engages and rejuvenates all of our communities.

Radwanski says that for the city to proclaim this week is something that not a lot of communities do.

"It just puts a spotlight on our campaigns that the Red Cross does," he said. "The community as a whole has claimed this as Pink Week, it's exceptional, and it's not the norm in Canada that a lot of communities will do a whole week. So, it's great to see that Swift Current is taking a week to mark it and to remember it and to move forward on it."

Bullying has become a serious issue among younger people and can come in many different ways, such as exclusion, verbal, physical, and online bullying.

Radwanski says that teaching the youth now about anti-bullying is something that is going to help for the future.

"It's something that if we can educate a student at a young age, they have that concept of what to do if they see bullying, how to counter it and how to participate in the anti-bullying campaign," Radwanski said. "If we can train a student, get them educated, they can carry that for life, and they can also help with their own environment. As we train our students, they are becoming facilitators. They graduate to become members of the communities, and they carry forth that training so actually it's the youths that lead the charge in a lot of this."

You can learn more about Pink Day on the Red Cross's website for Pink Day on February 28.