CALGARY—It was a frigid winter morning in March, and nine-year-old Amal Alshteiwi seemed nervous for the day ahead at a new school.She was up early, carefully picking out the clothes she wanted to wear: black pants and a matching sweater. The night before, she had stayed up until 11 p.m., sitting patiently as her mother straightened her hair.Five days earlier, they moved to a new neighbourhood to get away from what they say was extreme bullying. The family says both Amal and her two younger siblings were targeted at a school in the northeast neighbourhood of Whitehorn.Before the move, they say the once-cheerful girl would come home angry, sometimes screaming, crying and flinging her school bag across the room.That morning in March, Amal’s parents say their daughter seemed tense as she drank her usual glass of milk and ate breakfast with her brothers and sisters. The children brushed their teeth, donned their winter coats and shrugged on their backpacks as their mother, Nasra Abdulrahman, sent them off to school.When Amal got home at 4 p.m., her mother said her mood had brightened. She excitedly showed her mother the sticker on the back of her hand, given by her Grade 4 teacher for completing her school work. She was beaming.Read more: Calgary refugee family in mourning after daughter, 9, dies by suicide: ‘We need to break this taboo’Calgary school board ‘confident’ in ability to support students after 9-year-old dies by suicide“She said, ‘Today, I’m happy,’ ” Abdulrahman said, speaking in Arabic, recalling her daughter’s words.Just hours later, when Amal’s father, Aref Alshteiwi, came home after dropping off Abdulrahman at her English class, he found his daughter in her bedroom, dead. They say she died by suicide.In the chaos that followed after Aref called 911, her 11-year-old brother said he immediately knew why Amal had died. “It’s because of what happened at school,R ...
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