Anti-bullying t-shirts have had a makeover this year.

The Sto:lo Gift Shop on Vedder Road is carrying a new First Nations inspired anti-bullying t-shirt, with a powerful new logo to help convey an important message.

“Olhet.”

It means respect in Halqe’meylem, which is the indigenous language for this region. In the logo, the word is nestled in the palm of an opened hand.

Around the logo is the logo: Expect respect, stop bullying in its tracks.

The design was created by local First Nation artist Bonnie Graham.

She said the new design was a collective idea to develop a locally-designed product that reflected the area, the language and the anti-bullying initiative.

“We felt it important to bring the campaign to light locally,” Graham said. “I wanted to keep in the mind a concise simple design of the hand as a symbol of ‘stop’ and featured the local indigenous language for respect.  A modern yet traditional design that would appeal to everyone, be printed, produced and distributed locally and bring light to a very important initiative.”

The t-shirts are on sale now at the gift shop for $15 each, and net proceeds from the sales of the shirts will go to local anti-bullying initiatives. The release of the shirts is timed to coincide with Anti-Bullying Day on Wednesday, Feb. 24. On that day, they will also be selling pink cupcakes at the store, by donation.

Phone 604-824-2670 for more information or purchase online at the gift shop’s website, or pick up your shirts at the Sto:lo Gift Shop located at 7201 Vedder Road (access from Wells Road.) The store is open Tuesday through Saturday.