The story of a 14-year-old autistic student who was assaulted by a classmate in Ottawa has reopened conversations about victim safety — and rehabilitation over retribution — particularly as the rate of bullying in Ontario is on the rise, according to new research.

When two girls from Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School in the city’s west end invited classmate Sloane Foster, 14, to join them for lunch at the mall across the street in late September, Foster called her dad right away.

“She was quite excited to have two people that wanted to go to lunch with her,” Warren Foster said.

“With a fresh start at a new school — I’d rather you didn’t, but go ahead,” he recalled telling his daughter, who has autism and works with an education assistant at school.

“Just call me when you’re there and call me when you’re back,” he instructed her.

But according to the Fosters, things took a turn when a group of girls began taunting Sloane as she walked back to school.

“The girls wouldn’t stop screaming at her, saying they’re gonna kill her,” said Warren Foster, who by this time was on the phone with his daughter.

Things escalated after Sloane threw a plastic bowl at the girls.

Sir Guy Carleton Secondary School is in Ottawa’s west end, near Woodroffe Avenue and Baseline Road. (Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC News)

“[One of the girls] grabbed me by my hair and started yanking my head and pulling my hair over and over and over again until I fell to the ground,” she told CBC. “[The girl] was on top of me basically just punching me in the head over and over and over again.”

Her father could hear it all over the phone.

“I could hear her screaming and begging her to stop … and the phone went dead,” he said. Foster raced over to find his daughter.

“It’s four and a half minutes from my work to where she was on Woodroffe Avenue, and it was the longest four and a half minutes of my life,” he said, tears welling in his eyes as he recalled Sloane’s condition when he finally reached her.

“She had blood all over the side of her head.”

Foster took his daughter back to school and called police. After speaking with the officers, they went to CHEO where they waited 13 hours before Sloane was diagnosed with a concussion.

She missed two weeks of school after the assault, and has been visiting a concussion clinic regularly since the event.

Sloane Foster, 14, is austistic and has an individual education plan (IEP) with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. (Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC News)

Family disappointed with school

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) told CBC News it was unable to comment on the altercation because of privacy concerns.

However, in an emailed statement it said: “The OCDSB investigates all occurrences that happen off school property if there is a direct impact on the school climate. Depending on the circumstances, our response may also involve calling the police.”

According to the family, the girl who punched Sloane was suspended for a week and is not facing any charges.

“I’m still quite nervous of her being back in school because knowing that these girls are still there and they have full rein,” said Warren.

CBC News reached out to the Ottawa Police Service but did not receive a response.

In a letter to the school principal, Sloane’s mom Joanne wrote: “I’m very disappointed and ashamed at how the school has been handling bullying. You are suppose to be providing a safe and inclusive environment for all students, and I feel that you are not meeting your mandate and promoting the bullying and targeting of students.”

Schools in Ontario follow a progressive discipline approach, said Tracy Vaillancourt, a professor ar the University of Ottawa’s faculty of education who has been studying bullying within schools for decades. She also regularly consults with both parents and school boards on issues of bullying.

“It’s really hard for parents to understand why schools are making the decisions that they’re making,” said Vaillancourt. “But schools are making the decisions because they are experts in child development and they do understand this.”

There’s a long-standing belief in Canada — both in criminal law and even more so in schools — that people be given an opportunity to better themselves in the wake of making a mistake, said Vaillancourt.

Expelling a student, for instance, would prove to be more problematic for the person in question, she said.

“These kids then are at greater risk and will be at risk to others in a more extreme way than they were if we had tried to help them,” said Vaillancourt. “That’s where research is really clear. We cannot use zero-tolerance policies. They actually cause tons of harm.”

Tracy Vaillancourt holds the Canada research chair in school-based mental health and violence prevention, and is a professor in the faculty of education at the University of Ottawa. (Caitlin Taylor)

Bullying on the rise

That’s often a difficult pill to swallow for the student who’s being bullied, said Vaillancourt. And it seems bullying is on the rise.

Vaillancourt has been surveying Ontario students about bullying for more than 20 years. In her most recent findings, involving feedback from 15,000 Ontario students, Vaillancourt found 43 per cent of students in grades 4 to 12 reported being bullied.

“The [bullying] trend went down during the pandemic and now it’s gone up. It’s overshot pre-pandemic [levels],” she said.

Anti-bullying education and more supervision are key to bringing the numbers down, said Vaillancourt. As for the student who assaulted Sloane, a week-long suspension is fairly typical, she said.

“There’s probably a gender bias attached to this one,” she said. “If that was a 14-year-old boy, I suspect [the police] would be involved. They’ll never admit to it. You see a different pattern when girls are involved than when boys are involved.”

For now, Warren Foster is still hesitant to send his daughter back to school and has made a habit of escorting her to and from the building.

“I walk her into the school,” he said. “It’s been very scary, life-changing. It’s been stressful on Sloane, myself, the whole family.”