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The sister of a 15-year-old boy who committed suicide is urging people to take action against bullying in the hopes of saving lives.

Karine Dufour’s message for anyone who experiences or witnesses bullying is simple: speak out and take action.

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“It has to stop,” she said.

Dufour, 26, told The Canadian Press that her brother Simon died by suicide on Thursday.

In a widely shared Facebook post, Dufour described her brother as an energetic high school student who loved music and cracking jokes, but who was relentlessly bullied by peers.

Dufour said her brother was subjected to cruel comments that were often trivialized by others.

She said her parents discussed the problem with school administrators multiple times, but little changed.

She’s speaking out in part because she wants bullies to understand the ramifications of their behaviour, she said.

“It’s unacceptable,” she said. “It has consequences: there are depressions, self-esteem problems.”