A candlelight vigil will be held for Amanda Todd tonight at Lafarge Lake in Coquitlam.
Organizer Shawna Iverson said she expects more than 500 people to attend the 6 p.m. event and she hopes more will join. Her daughter was in a dance class with Todd when the two were young and, although the families lost touch, Iverson said she wanted to offer Tri-City youth a place to gather in Todd's memory.
"It's hard these days to be a kid with social media and everyone taking pictures with their cell phones but we need to find better ways of protecting them," said Iverson, who works with young people as a basketball coach at her daughters' schools. "I know it happens all over, this bullying, but not a lot of kids speak up.
"I just hope through all the towns doing these vigils - it's for Amanda but it's also for everyone being bullied."
The vigil will feature musician Corbin Vander Zalm, who will play the song from the video Todd recorded before her death, and possibly her teacher and school principal. Participants will be lighting the pathway at Lafarge with candles and Iverson said many young people are bringing balloons in Todd's favourite colours.
School District 43 principal Cindi Seddon, who has written books on bullying, is expected to speak at the event.
Organizers are also assembling poster boards with photos that can be signed and given to the Todd family. Local businesses are donating coffee, hot chocolate and tents.
Similar vigils are being held across the country; for more information about the Coquitlam vigil, search Facebook for Amanda Todd Hometown Memorial & Candlelight Vigil.
Around the world, at least 40 vigils hare being held, according to the Facebook group Global Girl Power.
Todd died last week in an apparent suicide after suffering years of bullying. About a month before her death Todd posted a nine-minute YouTube video in which she detailed the abuse she had suffered, including being asked by a person to expose herself via a webcam when she was in Grade 7.
When she refused to provide a more explicit show, the person distributed the earlier images to Todd's teachers, family and schoolmates, resulting in the bullying.
The Grade 10 student had lived and attended school in Maple Ridge but was most recently living with her mother in Port Coquitlam. She switched to the alternative school CABE in Coquitlam to try to escape the bullying but the cyber-torment followed here there as well.
Earlier this week, online "hacktivists" claimed to have found the man who blackmailed Todd. Various media reported that a group calling itself Anonymous tracked down a 32-year-old New Westminster man and published his name but, when contacted, he said he knew nothing about the group or any connection with Todd.
Another man with the same name was tracked down to a Surrey provincial court appearance; he's facing charges of sexual assault and sexual interference of a person under 16 in connection with an unrelated incident in Surrey. He told CTV News he was friends with Todd online but that he didn't bully her.
Since her death police have received hundreds of tips regarding the online predator, as well as attention from media around the world.
Sgt. Peter Thiessen, spokesperson for the Lower Mainland District RCMP, said further information about their investigation was not available before The Tri-City News' deadline.
