Pink Shirt Day 2023

Toronto – February 22, 2023 – Pink Shirt Day is an annual day of observance celebrated internationally and established by the CKNW Kids’ Fund, based out of Burnaby, British Columbia. On the last Wednesday of February, Canadians take a stand for kindness and wear pink shirts to show their support for safe and inclusive schools, workplaces and communities.

Pink Shirt Day was created in 2007, after a new student at a Berwick, Nova Scotia school was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Following this incident, two grade 12 students bought 50 pink shirts and encouraged their classmates to wear pink. The next day they went to distribute the shirts and to their surprise the majority of students arrived wearing pink.

UFCW knows that bullying at work often takes the form of discrimination, whether it be through favouritism, workplace reprisals, inappropriate jokes, or the breach of a person’s human rights.  We also know that bullies respond to strength, and there is nothing stronger than the power of workers standing together to say “no!” to bullying and discrimination at work.

On Pink Shirt Day, we stand up to bullying wherever and whenever it occurs and take a stand for others in our work and our communities. Because when we take collective action against bullying and discrimination, we hold solidarity with others and work collectively to challenge the existence and impact of bullying wherever it occurs.