OTTAWA - Shortly before he took his own life, a gay teen wrote a final goodbye on the blog where he poured out so much of his pain.
"It's just too hard. I don't want to wait three more years, this hurts too much," Jamie Hubley wrote.
"How do you even know it will get better? It's not."
The 15-year-old son of an Ottawa city councillor killed himself Friday after months of suicidal musings on his blog and social-media websites such as Twitter and Tumblr.
His father, Allan Hubley, says bullying was part of the reason his son took his own life.
Hubley says the family knew of several occasions when his son was treated cruelly because he preferred figure skating to hockey.
Jamie recently tried to start a Rainbow Club at his high school to promote acceptance of others, his father said.
"The posters were torn down and he was called vicious names in the hallways and online," he said in a statement.
The elder Hubley says his son suffered with depression and was receiving care from doctors and counsellors.
"He struggled with the idea that people can judge you harshly even when you are trying to help others," he said.
"Jamie asked a question no child should have to ask -- 'why do people say mean things to me?"'
On his blog, titled "You Can't Break When You're Already Broken," Jamie wrote openly of being gay and described himself as "not really anything special, just depressed."
"I wish I could be happy, I try, I try, I try. ... I just want to feel special to someone."
Two weeks ago, he wrote: "One day, I hope I will actually want to live."
He also wrote about cutting himself and posted black-and-white photos of razor-scarred forearms alongside other suicidal images.
In his last post, he told his mother and father he loved them and said his suicide was not their fault.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board released a statement Tuesday saying it has tried to make its schools more tolerant and accepting.
"We have made tremendous progress in our schools in reducing discrimination and creating a culture of acceptance,"' wrote the board's education director, Jennifer Adams.
"We are more aware, more welcoming, more culturally proficient, and more willing to speak about the 'unspokens.' However, there is more work to be done.
"The truth is that bullying happens -- it happens in schools, it happens in workplaces and it happens in homes."
Egale Canada, a national gay and lesbian advocacy group, said schools need to get better at putting a stop to homophobic language and taunting in the hallways.
"There are a lot of TV shows now that focus on being gay," said Helen Kennedy, the group's executive director.
"And I think in that many respects, our teens are feeling comfortable to come out at an earlier age because of some of the images that are being displayed on TV. But that can also have a negative effect. Because they're coming out earlier and they're setting themselves up to be targets."
Earlier this month, members of Parliament debated the nation's mental health after the Liberals called for a national suicide-prevention strategy.
