Saskatchewan artists are taking to the schools to perform and spread the word of a largely ignored issue with the Imagine No Bullying tour.

Folk artist Stephen Maguire has witnessed some of the worst that bullying has the potential to become. Growing up in Belfast, Ireland during the civil war, Maguire experienced extreme conditions of social exclusion.

“I faced a life where students were forced to wear patches on their clothes with their religion and if they went to the wrong part of the city they would be attacked for it.”

It is because of these scarring and emotional experiences that Maguire felt he had to do something to make a change. As a celebrated folk singer, he felt that he could help through music. Maguire joined with Saskatchewan-based country artist Codie Prevost, who experienced bullying in the small-town he was raised in, to front an effort to end bullying.Together they are setting off on a province-wide tour to end ignorance toward bullying, especially for the youth.

Maguire said there is a large discrepancy in the way that authority figures punish these violent behaviors.

“When a 14-year-old physically abuses someone, they say that it’s just a phase and they get a slap on the wrist or a time out and that’s it. But if someone as an 18-year-old did the same they would be arrested,” Maguire said.

Award-winning country artist Codie Prevost.

This sort of emotional abuse is worse at a young age due to the impressionable stage that children are in. Performing at schools is a way for the duo to get right to the core of their audience as well as the teachers who watch over them during the week. They hope their performance will present ideas in a way that is more appealing to youth than a stern lecture.

As Maguire believes the core of bullying starts at home with the parents, the two will remain at the various schools until nightfall to perform another concert that parents are invited to attend so that they may share the experience with their children. Parents are the primary influence in the lives of their children and have a profound effect on how they behave, Maguire said.

The tour works directly with the Canadian Red Cross, which will provide footage and statistics that will play an integral part in the performance.

Maguire and Prevost have also worked together on a special song about the topic of bullying, the song is currently untitled.

Maguire said he firmly believes that bullying is preventable.

“There was this dangerous turn by my house,” Maguire said. “A kid was killed on that corner and then they put up a crosswalk, but everyone knew that corner was dangerous and that death could have been prevented. The same thing goes for bullying.”

Imagine No Bullying begins on Oct. 16 with a special opening show at Mayfair United Church for the public. Tickets can be purchased at McNally Robinson Booksellers and picatic.com.

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Photos: Supplied by Imagine No Bullying