The parents of a Cape Breton teenager say bullying led their 13-year-old daughter to take her own life on Father’s Day.
Madison Wilson was found dead in her father’s home on Sunday. She is the third student in the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board to die this year.
Now, her parents are sharing their story in hopes that other families won’t have to go through the same experience.
“We didn't know about this, what was going to happen,” says Madison’s father Chris Royal. “We never thought of this in a million years.”
Madison’s family says she loved music and spending time with friends, but constant bullying proved to be too much for her to handle.
“It needs to stop,” says mother AmyLynn Wilson. “We're losing too many young people and it shouldn't have to happen, at all.”
Her parents say Madison was the target of verbal abuse at school and online through social media sites.They say she was keeping her feelings protected behind passwords and security codes.
“Demand the passcodes to their phones, and Snapchat, and Instagram, and Facebook, and actually look sometimes because it's hidden,” says Wilson. “We always don't know what's going on 100 percent, I didn't.”
The day after Madison’s death, the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board voted unanimously to write a letter of concern to the province's education minister to examine the resources available to students struggling with mental health.
“I wouldn't characterize what we’re dealing with now as a crisis for the board,” says school board chair Darren GooGoo. “I do recognize that there are some students that are in crisis and some students require some specific supports.”
Parents say more needs to be done when it comes to dealing with bullying at school.
“It's getting worse, and that’s because something needs to change. Everybody sees it in our community, what's going on in schools, all the parents know what goes on,” says Royal. “We just tend to not ignore it, ‘Okay it will get better,’ but it really doesn't.”
Royal says he hopes the letter the board is sending to the province will stress the seriousness of the situation.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.