A Vancouver Island teacher has been reprimanded for repeatedly calling a female Muslim student “Taliban” in front of a classroom full of kids.
Matthew Shaun Pell was teaching a Grade 11 math class at a Sooke high school in 2014 when he made the comments to the girl, whose family is Middle Eastern.
He also said things like “don’t make her angry otherwise she’ll bomb you,” and “she’s going to blow everything up,” according to a document released by the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
The comments made the girl and her classmates “feel very uncomfortable,” the document says.
That prompted the district to issue a written warning in 2015 to Pell, who owned up to the incident and agreed to a reprimand.
He was ordered to complete a course called “Building Cultural Intelligence in Your Workplace” through B.C.’s Justice Institute by June 30.
If he doesn’t complete the course, his teaching certificate could be suspended.
