A 12-year-old says she does 'not feel safe' at Toronto school after physical violence threats

Khadijah Roy would normally be in school on a Wednesday but is instead at her mom's work.

"I do not feel safe going to school," said the 12-year-old.

She and her mom, Holly Roy, sat down with CTV News Toronto to talk about the months of bullying she's been facing. Khadijah goes to Portage Trail Community School in Toronto.

In June, she said she was brutally attacked and it was shot on video and spread around social media.

"It's very humiliating for a person to go through that," said Roy, adding she wants people to help someone in that situation rather than take video.

Holly Roy said that was the first incident. She said she involved the Toronto police and the Urban Indigenous Centre, and planned a mediation.

"I had planned mediation to do like a circle with teachers, us, parents, and educators and the students," said Holly. "We wanted to mediate and sort of see how we could move forward and heal together."

She said that was about two days before school was done and it went well. But when school started again this year, the bullying started again.

This week, Roy said it escalated and she was threatened with physical violence.

"Khadijah was playing at the park by her school on the weekend," said her mom. "She met the peer with [an] older sibling and the older sibling had threatened her with gun violence."

A member of the Toronto Police Service says they are taking the matter seriously. "The recent report [of] Uttering Threats from November 13 is actively being investigated and as a result, a 15-year-old boy will be charged accordingly."

The Toronto District School Board is also aware, telling CTV News Toronto in a statement, "We are aware of the matter and it is currently under investigation by both the Toronto Police Service and the Toronto District School Board."

This alleged incident comes amid a rash of violence at Toronto schools. Two weeks ago, a student at Woburn Collegiate was shot and killed after class, and another was injured. On Monday, another student at Birchmount Park Collegiate was stabbed and sent to hospital.

"Unfortunately this is not the type of thing that surprises me anymore," said Marcell Wilson, founder of One by One Movement Inc. It's a program that, according to its website, is founded by former gang, extremist and organized crime members that work to implement youth outreach programs.

"They're getting younger, the violence is getting more extreme and more brazen, too many young people have access to weapons, illegal firearms in particular, and we've seen this coming for some time," he said. "We've been screaming from the mountaintops that we have to start taking preventative measures."

Wilson said bullying was a big part of how he came to join a gang, and says there are programs that can be utilized in school settings for all ages.

"It's like we're stuck in the analysis paralysis. People are afraid to take steps," said Wilson.

His group has been at round table discussions with politicians and officials all over the map, but he said it's time for action.

"We started with prenatal negative outcome prevention, early childhood violence prevention, child violence prevention, youth violence prevention, young adult violence prevention, these are not just terms, these are action items," explained Wilson. "These are [curricula] that are designed [and] that can be implemented into their structures but we have to act."

In Roy's case, her mother says the pair feel as though they are in limbo.

"There's not much the school board was doing, she's like sitting in the office, she's walking through the hallways being taunted and bullied," said Roy's mom, adding that it's not a permanent solution.

The mother and daughter duo wanted to come forward to share their story because violence is becoming too common and they hope others will share their stories too.

"When someone says I'm going to shoot you in your head, I'm going to put a bullet in your head, I take that very seriously," said Holly. "In the city, it's very real and it's sad. And they're just getting younger and younger."