A Prince George, B.C., high school teacher is on leave after he used the N-word multiple times in the presence of a Black student.
Two uses of the word were captured on video by the student, who then posted it to Instagram. The video was also shared to Facebook by a parent of another student who attends the school.
School District 57 superintendent Jameel Aziz confirmed the incident had taken place on Feb. 24 and that an investigation was underway. He also said he had reached out to affected students and their families and would be meeting with them on Thursday.
“I’m hopeful that this is an isolated incident,” he said. “I’m actually very disappointed that this occurred and that our students and other staff were exposed.”
Marisa Alexander, an anti-racism consultant in the city, said it’s an example of the sorts of issues Black individuals deal with — often to be met with denial from their white peers.
“There are still people to this day, in Prince George, who don’t believe, one, that the Black community is even here or that they deserve education or support,” she said. “Bringing this into the public eye reminds people that this happens.”
CBC News reached the teacher by phone, who declined to comment, instead directing questions toward the Prince George District Teacher’s Association, who could not immediately respond.
B.C. Teacher’s Federation president Clint Johnston said the union takes its responsibilities to its members and students seriously and has a long history of pushing forward anti-racist policies and curriculum.
Aziz said he expected the investigation to last through to the end of the week, and that it was being conducted by the district’s human resources department with input from the teacher’s union.
While the teacher was on leave, Aziz said he could not confirm whether it was paid or unpaid.
He said the video has circulated widely throughout the district, and he expected there to be discussions within schools about its implications.
“It has had an impact in all of our Prince George high schools,” he said. “So it will be our school-based administration and our teachers who will take the lead, you know, addressing some of the questions or concerns to come out of that.”
But, he said, the matter would be addressed as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
“I want to assure our community and our parents that we do take these matters very seriously.”
Word used multiple times by teacher
The video, which has been viewed by CBC News, is split into three distinct parts that have been edited together.
It begins with the camera, which is being held by the student, pointed at the teacher in what the teacher identifies as the school’s “public office.”
The student begins the exchange by recounting an interaction the pair had had in the hallway.
“Say the N-word you just said to my face. Say it again,” the student says.
“What word did you say in the hallway?” the teacher asks.
“I said n—– because I’m a Black male,” the student responds, turning the camera to himself before redirecting it back to the teacher.
“Say the N-word again.”
“I don’t need to,” the teacher responds.
“You just said the N-word four times, hard-R, to my face,” the student says.
The teacher then tells the student he is being “rather harassing” and that he won’t talk to him on camera.
At that point, the video cuts off and jumps to a second conversation.
In this video, the teacher can be seen sitting down in an administrative space, speaking to an unidentified third party who appears to be an adult male.
The video begins mid-conversation as the teacher appears to recount an earlier conversation with the student, and it is unclear whether the teacher is aware he is being filmed.
“It was not that word, but it was the fact that you said, ‘Ah, shit n—-,'” the teacher says.
The student begins laughing off-camera, prompting the teacher to look at him, saying, “That’s what you said; those were your words.”
“Yeah, I did,” says a voice from behind the camera.
The video then jumps forward again, with the teacher again speaking mid-sentence.
“I was thinking, so I made myself available, and his first question was, ‘What did you say to me?’ And I said to him, to his face, calmly, I said the word ‘n—–‘ and that was the problem,’ and then he started putting the phone in my face.”
The student audibly exhales, and the teacher turns to the student and says ‘OK, I’m sorry, but I have to say what I said,” and the video again cuts off and ends.
CBC News has reached out to the student via social media.
Alexander said it was “scary” and “disheartening” to hear the word used by a teacher in a position of power over a Black student.
She also said it appeared the teacher was “out of his depth” when it came to understanding the context of the word, and its usage was a demonstration of why the education system needs to take serious steps to address issues of race with all staff members — especially at a time when there has been increased pushback against initiatives focused on diversity, education and inclusion.
“This is a clear example of why it’s so important,” she said.
Racism report
The district has been forced to confront issues of racism before. In 2021, it apologized for a school assignment that told students to list the ‘positive’ impacts of colonies on Indigenous people.
That same year, two members of the school board resigned after the province commissioned an investigation into Indigenous relations and anti-Indigenous racism within the district, both at schools and within the administration.
The ensuing report found examples of systemic anti-Indigenous racism and a “substantial culture of fear” within the district. The report stated that SD57 was behind other school districts in best practices and took note of the fact the district did not have an explicit anti-racism policy to support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) students and staff. The report also found that “acts of racism and microaggression remain unchallenged because of a lack of accountability measures.”
Aziz did not deny work needed to be done on this front, describing schools as a “microcosm of general, greater society” and that issues of race “do trickle down,” including in ways that he was not always aware of at an administrative level.
He said work had been done in the wake of the report, including the adoption of an anti-racism action plan. He also said he did not feel the district is unique in having issues surrounding race, having heard of similar problems from his counterparts around the province.
And he said that, overall, the issues are taken seriously by staff and administrators.
“We are working very hard around diversity, equity and inclusion programs,” he said. “But you know, do these occurrences still arise? They certainly do.”
