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Discrimination is an action or decision that treats someone unfairly by either imposing a burden on them, or denying them a privilege, benefit or opportunity enjoyed by others, because of their race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics or disability.

The Ministry of Education defines bullying as "a form of repeated, persistent and aggressive behaviour directed at an individual or individuals that is intended to cause (or should be known to cause) fear and distress and/or harm to another person's body, feelings, self-esteem or reputation."

Bullying does not need to be physical in order to be hurtful. Physical bullying may be more present during the elementary school years, while more covert forms such as social and cyber-bullying can take precedence during high school. The Ministry of Education provides examples of bullying that include:

• Physical – hitting, shoving, stealing or damaging property
• Verbal – name calling, mocking, or making sexist, racist or homophobic comments
• Social – excluding others from a group or spreading gossip or rumours about them
• Electronic (commonly known as cyberbullying) – spreading rumours and hurtful comments through the use of cellphones, e-mail, text messaging and through social media.

PREVnet is a Canadian resource designed to assist students, parents, and educators understand bullying and how to foster healthy relationships. PREVnet expands their definition of bullying to include the following terms and, based on the Human Rights Code, some of these actions are also discriminatory.

PHYSICAL BULLYING
Includes hitting, kicking, shoving, spitting, beating up, stealing or damaging property.

While physical bullying causes harm to a child’s body or property, the below forms of bullying cause psychological harm. Such offensive, degrading and rejecting behaviours undermine and destabilize victimized children’s sense of themselves, of their place in the school, and of their place in the world.

VERBAL BULLYING
Includes name-calling, mocking, hurtful teasing, insults, slurs, humiliating or threatening someone, racist comments, or sexual harassment.

SOCIAL BULLYING
Includes rolling your eyes or turning away from someone, excluding others from the group, getting others to ignore or exclude, gossiping or spreading rumours, setting others up to look foolish, and damaging reputations and friendships.

ELECTRONIC OR CYBERBULLYING
Includes the use of email, cell phones, text messages, and internet sites to threaten, harass, embarrass, socially exclude, or damage reputations and friendships.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
Includes treating people badly because of their racial or ethnic background, saying bad things about a cultural background, calling someone racist names or telling racist jokes. This is a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
Includes treating people badly because of their religious background or beliefs, making negative comments about a religious background or belief, calling someone names or telling jokes based on his of her religious beliefs in an effort to hurt them. This is a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

GENDER AND GENDER IDENTITY DISCRIMINATION
Includes leaving someone out; treating them badly, or making them feel uncomfortable because of their gender or gender identity; making sexist comments or jokes. This is a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

SEXUAL AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION DISCRIMINATION
Includes making crude comments about someone’s sexual behaviour or orientation; or spreading a sexual rumour; treating someone badly because of their sexual orientation or making them feel uncomfortable because of their sexual behavior. This is a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION
Includes leaving someone out or treating them badly because of a disability, making someone feel uncomfortable, or making jokes to hurt someone because of a disability. This is a protected ground under the Ontario Human Rights Code.