Ontario student leaders urge peers to 'stick it' to fast food with boycott

TORONTO - Student leaders in Ontario say it's time their peers took a stand against the food they face in cafeterias and in the fast food restaurants that often ring schools.

Tired of poor quality food options, they are rolling out a campaign calling on students to boycott fast food for the month of November.

The effort, called "Stick it to fast food" is launching under a provocative banner. Its logo, already emblazoned on T-shirts kids can order, looks both like a fork with a single standing tine — and a hand with the middle finger raised.

"In our school boards all the time we hear that cafeterias aren't good enough, students aren't healthy enough. Obesity rates are high. All these statistics. (But) when it comes to doing something, even the adults don't know what to do," says Hirad Zafari, a Grade 12 student at Toronto's Don Mills Collegiate and president of the Ontario Student Trustees Association.

"So we thought: Why not, as the students who are elected to look out for the best interests of the students, do something to make it better?"

Zafari is a leader of the Stick It campaign, which launches today in Toronto.

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