B.C. teacher suspended over racist joke, inappropriate classroom materials

A high school teacher on B.C.’s Central Coast has had her teaching certificate suspended for one day over a variety of misconduct, including making a racist joke and showing inappropriate videos in class.

Margaret Rose Lewick entered a consent resolution agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation to resolve the issue. A redacted version of the agreement was published on the commissioner’s website last week.

According to the document, Lewick was introducing a cutting tool to a Grade 8/9 art class in November 2023 when the racist joke occurred.

An Indigenous student, when Lewick took the tool from them, asked, “Is this because I’m brown?”

“Lewick responded by saying sarcastically, ‘Yes, exactly,’” the consent agreement reads.

“The students in the class then began discussing the racist nature of Lewick’s comment. Lewick’s response was to say: ‘You can’t take a joke,’ ‘I have the right to joke about anything I want,’ ‘It’s a joke, people need to be able to take a joke,’ and ‘I have heard these comments about being brown for years.’”

The document indicates that Lewick attempted to apologize to the student after class, saying she was sorry if they were offended.

“Student A reiterated that Lewick had made a racist joke, to which Lewick responded: ‘The whole class heard you accuse me of being racist,’” the document reads.

The school district suspended Lewick for three days without pay as a result of the incident, and reported it to the commissioner.

The district also reported two other instances of misconduct involving Lewick, which occurred in November and December 2024.

In the November incident, Lewick showed two videos to a Grade 9 class that the consent agreement describes as “inappropriate.”

The first video “demonstrated how to eat pie,” and was “riddled with sexual connotations,” the document reads.

“The second video, which was animated, depicted students in a shop class,” it continues. “The shop video uses gender stereotypes, with weak males being referred to as ‘pussies.’ It also shows a mean, aggressive teacher torturing students through electric shocks.”

In the December incident, Lewick addressed an education assistant in front of a Grade 8 class in a manner that “came across as demeaning and disrespectful,” according to the consent agreement.

The document does not elaborate on what Lewick said, but indicates the EA felt “belittled” by the comments.

The school district imposed a five-day unpaid suspension on Lewick for the video and EA incidents. The district had previously sent her letters of discipline in October 2022 and October 2023 for other behaviour, according to the consent agreement.

Under the agreement, Lewick admitted that her behaviour constituted misconduct and agreed to the one-day suspension of her teaching certificate.

She also agreed to complete the course “Communicating in Conflict” through the Justice Institute of British Columbia, and to be suspended if she fails to do so within the designated time.