A Burnaby teacher who made racist and other insensitive remarks is facing the consequences after a decision from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
The incident took place at a Burnaby high school in School District 41.
Several notable issues are outlined in the consent resolution agreement, including failing to use the preferred pronouns of some students, communicating students’ grades in front of other classmates, and making culturally and racially insensitive remarks, like referring to Pakistani people as “Paki.”
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The consent agreement highlights events that took place between 2021 and 2023. During that time, William Donald Harvey was teaching French at the school.
At one point in 2021, Harvey asked a Japanese student if it was a “cultural thing” for Japanese people to “drink more than you can handle and then throw up at parties.”
That same year, Harvey discussed people from Pakistan and used the term Paki. The agreement notes that one student whose family is from Pakistan reported feeling “very embarrassed, offended, and upset.”
In 2023, when Harvey was working on vocabulary with his Grade 11 French class, he wrote a word on the whiteboard, “pétasse.”
He told the students that it meant sl*t in English and wrote that word on the whiteboard. He then repeated the word several times, making students write it down.
“At least one student reported feeling very uncomfortable as a result of this,” the agreement says.
The school district issued a letter of discipline to Harvey on Jan. 9, 2024, which required him to complete several BCTF courses by March 15, 2024. Those courses included classroom management, assessment in the classroom and anti-racism strategies for educators. The agreement says that he completed them in February 2024.
Another investigation was ordered by the commissioner on July 3, 2024, and on Oct. 5, 2024, the commissioner proposed the consent resolution agreement.
Harvey was ordered to complete the course Creating a Positive Learning Environment through the Justice Institute of British Columbia by March 31, 2025.
“If Harvey fails to provide satisfactory proof of completion of the course by the later of the Condition Date or the Extended Date, the commissioner may require the Director of Certification (‘the Director’) to suspend Harvey’s certificate of qualification under section 64(f) of the Teachers Act, until such time as he successfully completes the course,” the agreement states.