'Shocking and saddening': Students create movie-inspired 'Burn Book' to bully peers

Bullying surfaces in form of book at high school From CTV Kitchener's Allison Tanner: A list of students' names and 'commandments' has surfaced at Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary.

A group of students at a southern Ontario secondary school borrowed bullying tactics from a popular teen movie, creating a so-called “Burn Book” filled with hateful comments about a list of their peers.

The term “Burn Book” is believed to have originated from the 2004 film “Mean Girls,” in which the popular students keep a log of abusive comments about their peers to fuel gossip and rumours.

Evidence of the handwritten dossier is said to have surfaced on an Instagram account in January. A student at Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School forwarded the image to CTV Kitchener.

“The post that we saw in this case was shocking and saddening,” said Waterloo District School Board spokesperson Nick Manning.

The photo shows a list of “commandments” written out and highlighted on one side of a folded page. The other side contains a list of names under the heading “The people these commandments are directed (sic) twords.”

Manning said the book has been destroyed. He confirms the student who penned the list has been punished, and each student named has been spoken to.

While the highly publicized suicides of Amanda Todd and Rehtaeh Parsons have helped raise the issue of bullying in Canadian schools in recent years, experts say more needs to be done at the classroom level. The incident at Waterloo-Oxford struck a chord with a number of current and former students.

“A “burn book” was made where a Grade 10 girl told other students to kill themselves, making fun of the homes they live in,” wrote one self-described former student in a post shared via Twitter. “I am ashamed and embarrassed to be part of this community, and embarrassed to say I am a former student at WO.”

“I guess talking about bullying in assemblies and announcements makes the staff feel good about themselves, but what about the idiots who bully other and drive them to have suicidal thoughts? Where is the strict punishment? Where are the support groups for the victims?,” said another commenter in a tweet.

With a report from CTV Kitchener’s Allison Tanner