The city is asking people to show a little respect.
Based on an initiative developed by Confederation College, the respect campaign promotes diversity and encourages people to speak up when they see or hear racist, homophobic or other intolerant remarks.
Confederation College student union diversity and wellness administrator Thomas Russell said the school started the campaign in 2006 to address intolerant remarks and attitudes.
“We realized they were things that people just weren’t challenging anymore they were accepting them as the way things were so instead of challenging them they just shrugged them off,” Russell said at the city’s campaign launch Wednesday morning.
City crime prevention coordinator Sheelagh Hendrick said she hopes the button and signage campaign will have a ripple effect through the community. Over the next while, posters will be put up in organizations signed on to the respect campaign and billboards will be seen throughout the city.
“We want to keep it happening we don’t’ want this to be just a one shot deal,” she said. “It’s hoping that the people that kind of have been tolerating it are going to step up and not tolerate it anymore.”
Hendrick said she hopes that people will get the message to respect people’s differences and think before they speak.
“Those comments are hurtful, the acts are harmful when someone gets beat up in the community because they wore a hoodie, because they look different, because they act different, because they’re of a differ sexual orientation.
“When that happens that’s a crime and we need to teach people to respect everyone’s differences,” she said.
