Students at Douglas Park Community School in Langley City marked Pink Shirt Day on Wednesday by handing out “kindness flowers.”
School Principal Mark Touzeau explained it was a symbolic way of spreading kindness on a day devoted to stopping bullying.
“Every student is provided with a flower,” Touzeau told the Langley Advance Times.
“Some classes will go out into the community and hand flowers to different members in our community, other students will take their flowers home and give their flowers to family members. We also have some classes that go out to local retirement residences and hand out flowers to residents there. It’s this really special opportunity for kids to focus in on kindness and experience not only what kindness does for the person receiving that kind action – but also how it feels to be kind to others.”
Celebrating niceness with flowers at Douglas Park Community School in Langley City on Pink Shirt Day pic.twitter.com/fK2EMLg6qm
— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) February 25, 2026
Pink Shirt Day began in 2007 when two grade 12 students in Nova Scotia bought and distributed 50 pink shirts after a ninth-grade student was bullied for wearing a pink polo shirt.
Since then, the anti-bullying campaign has spread across Canada and has also been adopted in New Zealand.
Touzeau said at Douglas Park, students are encouraged to celebrate kindness.
“Kindness is something that we talk about and teach about throughout the school year and Pink Shirt Day provides a really special opportunity for us to dial in on that conversation, around kindness, and what it means for students,” Touzeau said.
For Pink Shirt Day, students at Douglas Park posted a collage of self-portraits with the message ‘it’s okay to be different.”
“I’m always so impressed with our students, about how kind they are to one another,” Touzeau said.
“It’s something that we celebrate at our school every single day. When we see kids being kind, we make sure to point it out and celebrate it.”
A few blocks away, many were wearing pink at the Langley Senior Resources Society centre.
Judy Dary put on a slightly faded pink shirt with the message “Be Kind” that she bought back when she was a special education assistant in the Langley school system.
“I wear it very proudly every Pink Shirt Day,” Dary said.
“It definitely is worth supporting anti-bullying. Working in the school system, you see it out on the playgrounds, and sometimes you see it in the classroom. Bottom line is, anti-bullying should not be allowed.”
Langley seniors centre marks pink shirt day by pointing out bullying is an issue for every age pic.twitter.com/40QWJgjdLq
— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) February 25, 2026
Jude Henders, Coordinator of Volunteer Services at the centre, said bullying can happen at any age.
“We are here to bring attention to the fact that we support an all-inclusive place where we want people to feel welcome no matter what their age is, and gender, and so on,” Henders remarked. So today, we’re just sprinkling kindness.”
During a Pink Shirt Day question-and-answer at the seniors centre, when those present were asked if they had personally experienced bullying, or had seen an older adult bullying another person, several put their hands up.
“It’s a myth that they think it only happens with children,” one said.
Pink Shirt Day was part of Diversity and Respect Week in the Langley School District.
School Supt. Mal Gill said in all Langley schools, the goal is “to promote awareness, reconciliation, and inclusion for all members of the school community.”