Rats & Bullies: The Dawn-Marie Wesley Story
Encyclopedia
Rats & Bullies: The Bullycide of Dawn Marie Wesley is a feature documentary film
written, directed and produced by Cassidy R. McMillan and Ray Buffer, which probes the suicide
of a 14-year-old girl from Mission, British Columbia
. Dawn-Marie Wesley took her own life by hanging herself with a dog leash in her bedroom after systematic bullying and threats by three teenage girls from her school. Her suicide
was discovered by her 13-year-old brother who had come to her room to call her to dinner with the family. In her suicide note, Dawn-Marie named the three girls who bullied her and threatened her with death.
The incident outraged a nation and fueled a groundbreaking investigation by Canada's Crown, which led to the precedent-setting court case. For the first time in North America, teens were made to stand trial for bullying.
Due to this and other similar cases, the term "bullycide
" has been established.
Rats & Bullies not only documents this compelling story, but also offers solutions to teens, parents, teachers and school administrators on bullying, through the interviews involved, including insight from educational expert Rosalind Wiseman.
Relational aggression
among teenage girls is also discussed, with a focus on female bullying.
Also documented is the role of a Native American/First Nations Sentencing Circle, which was utilized in sentencing one of the bullies, since the victim and one of the accused were both Native, or First Nations
. This form of restorative justice
is beginning to gain wider appeal by legal systems around the globe.
Rats & Bullies was filmed on location on Mission, British Columbia, Canada; Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada; Washington D.C.; and California (USA). The film began pre-production in 2004 and covered the court cases, sentencing, and fallout from the event. The documentary completed filming in 2010 and finished post production in 2011.
Rats & Bullies won the Women In Film (WIF) Foundation Award (Los Angeles), from over 1,500 films submitted into competition.
The film includes interviews with:
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
written, directed and produced by Cassidy R. McMillan and Ray Buffer, which probes the suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
of a 14-year-old girl from Mission, British Columbia
Mission, British Columbia
Mission, the core of which was formerly known as Mission City, is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is situated on the north bank of the Fraser River overlooking the City of Abbotsford and with that city is part of the Central Fraser Valley. Mission is the...
. Dawn-Marie Wesley took her own life by hanging herself with a dog leash in her bedroom after systematic bullying and threats by three teenage girls from her school. Her suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
was discovered by her 13-year-old brother who had come to her room to call her to dinner with the family. In her suicide note, Dawn-Marie named the three girls who bullied her and threatened her with death.
The incident outraged a nation and fueled a groundbreaking investigation by Canada's Crown, which led to the precedent-setting court case. For the first time in North America, teens were made to stand trial for bullying.
Due to this and other similar cases, the term "bullycide
Bullycide
The term bullycide is a portmanteau word first used in 2001 by Neil Marr and Tim Field in their book Bullycide: Death at Playtime. It refers to suicide attributable to the victim having been bullied, either in person or via social media. Bullycide has also been defined as the killing of the bully...
" has been established.
Rats & Bullies not only documents this compelling story, but also offers solutions to teens, parents, teachers and school administrators on bullying, through the interviews involved, including insight from educational expert Rosalind Wiseman.
Relational aggression
Relational aggression
Relational aggression, also known as covert aggression or covert bullying, is a type of aggression in which harm is caused through damage to relationships or social status within a group rather than by means of actual or threatened physical violence...
among teenage girls is also discussed, with a focus on female bullying.
Also documented is the role of a Native American/First Nations Sentencing Circle, which was utilized in sentencing one of the bullies, since the victim and one of the accused were both Native, or First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
. This form of restorative justice
Restorative justice
Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on the needs of victims, offenders, as well as the involved community, instead of satisfying abstract legal principles or punishing the offender...
is beginning to gain wider appeal by legal systems around the globe.
Rats & Bullies was filmed on location on Mission, British Columbia, Canada; Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada; Washington D.C.; and California (USA). The film began pre-production in 2004 and covered the court cases, sentencing, and fallout from the event. The documentary completed filming in 2010 and finished post production in 2011.
Rats & Bullies won the Women In Film (WIF) Foundation Award (Los Angeles), from over 1,500 films submitted into competition.
The film includes interviews with:
- Cindy Wesley, Dawn-Marie Wesley's mother
- D.J. Wesley, Dawn-Marie's brother (who granted his only interview about the tragedy to the filmmakers of this documentary)
- Randy Hawes, a Member of the Legislative Assembly, who was the Mayor of the town when the tragedy occurred
- Judge Jill Rounthwaite, who presided over and handed down the precedent-setting historic ruling. The judge has never before or since granted an interview on the landmark case.
- Kyla Mae Dunn, one of the bullies who was arrested, charged and made to stand trial for bullying
- Paula Settee, Dawn-Marie's best friend
- Kevin Gillies, news reporter from the Fraser Valley who covered the court case
- Lee Hanlon, a paralegalParalegalParalegal is used in most jurisdictions to describe a paraprofessional who assists qualified lawyers in their legal work. This is true in the United States and many other countries. However, in Ontario, Canada, paralegals are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, giving paralegals an...
who assisted the Wesley family - Karen McQuade, co-founder of P.A.V.E., and mother of a teenage boy who himself considered suicide due to bullying
- Rosalind WisemanRosalind WisemanRosalind Wiseman is an American parenting educator and author of several publications. Her New York Times best-selling book Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence, released in 2002, was the basis of the hit comedy film...
, Bullying Educational Expert and NY Times Best Selling Author of Queen Bees and Wannabes