Warning: This story contains descriptions of offensive and discriminatory language.
A Burnaby teacher who failed to use his students’ preferred pronouns and upset other students with his comments has been reprimanded by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation for failing to “create a positive and inclusive classroom environment.”
William Donald Harvey, a high school teacher at the Burnaby school district, has admitted to the events and must take a course on positive learning environments as part of the disciplinary action, according to a recent agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
Harvey received his professional certificate of qualification from the B.C. College of Teachers in 2002.
The school district first made a report to the commissioner in January 2024 regarding five events between 2021 and 2023 when Harvey was teaching in French at an unnamed Burnaby high school.
“Harvey regularly failed to use the preferred pronouns of some students even after the students had reminded him repeatedly of their preferred pronouns,” said the agreement.
In one Grade 11 French language class, Harvey “split the class into teams by gender (boys versus girls),” despite a non-binary student being in the class.
In a different incident in 2021, Harvey asked a student of Japanese descent whether “it’s a cultural thing” for Japanese people to “drink more than you can handle and then throw up at parties.”
Then, while teaching a Grade 9 Sciences Humaines class in September 2021, Harvey was discussing the use of the suffix “stan” in the names of some countries.
“For example, people from Afghanistan are called ‘Afghans’ and people from Uzbekistan are known as ‘Uzbeks.’ Harvey also discussed people from Pakistan and the term ‘Paki.’ A student whose family was originally from Pakistan reported feeling very embarrassed, offended and upset,” said the agreement
In a Grade 11 French class in 2023, as part of a vocabulary exercise, Harvey wrote the word “pétasse” on the whiteboard and told the students the word meant “slut” in English.
“Harvey repeated the word several times, and made students write it down as a ‘vocabulary word.’ At least one student reported feeling very uncomfortable as a result of this.”
He also communicated students’ grades in front of their classmates, “providing comments and criticism which their peers could hear.”
In one incident, “he told the class that three students who were falling behind were slackers.”
In January 2024, the school district sent Harvey a letter of discipline and required him to complete three BC Teachers Federation courses:
- classroom management
- assessment in the classroom
- anti-racism strategies for educators
The commissioner began an investigation in July 2024.
As part of the consent resolution agreement, Harvey admitted the facts laid out in the agreement are true, agreed to the reprimand and will have to successfully complete the course “Creating a Positive Learning Environment” through the Justice Institute of B.C.
If he does not finish the course by March 31, his certificate of qualification could be suspended.
