A B.C. teacher has been suspended after admitting to professional misconduct that included sarcastically agreeing with a First Nations student who claimed to have been disciplined “because I am brown.”
Margaret Rose Lewick, a secondary school teacher in School District No. 49 on the Central Coast, agreed to a one-day suspension of her teaching certificate on June 1, 2026, under a consent resolution agreement with the province’s teacher regulator.
The agreement says the incident happened on Nov. 27, 2023, during a Grade 8-9 art class when Lewick introduced students to a cutting tool and then removed it from Student A, who is identified as a First Nations student.
When the student asked, “Is this because I am brown?” Lewick responded sarcastically, “yes, exactly,” according to the agreement.
The document says students then began discussing the racist nature of the comment, but Lewick replied with remarks including, “You can’t take a joke,” “I have the right to joke about anything I want,” and “It’s a joke, people need to be able to take a joke.”
Students reported feeling shocked and surprised, and the agreement says Lewick appeared angry and upset during the exchange.
After class, Lewick tried to apologize to the student, saying she was sorry if the student was offended. When the student reiterated that she had made a racist joke, Lewick replied: “The whole class heard you accuse me of being racist.”
The commissioner found that conduct, along with later incidents involving inappropriate classroom videos and demeaning treatment of an education assistant in front of students, amounted to professional misconduct contrary to Standards No. 1 and No. 9 of the Professional Standards for B.C. Educators.
Those later incidents included showing one Grade 9 class a video described in the agreement as being “riddled with sexual connotations,” and another animated video using gender stereotypes and depicting a teacher torturing students with electric shocks.
Lewick also admitted to addressing an education assistant in a way that came across as demeaning and disrespectful, leaving the assistant feeling belittled.
The district had already disciplined Lewick more than once. She was suspended for three days without pay in January 2024 over the classroom exchange with Student A, and later received a five-day unpaid suspension in July 2025 over the video and education assistant incidents.
The agreement also notes prior concerns raised by the district, including a 2023 discipline letter directing Lewick to continue counselling and take an anger-management program, as well as earlier discipline related to unnecessary physical contact with a student.
In addition to the one-day certificate suspension, Lewick must complete the Justice Institute of British Columbia course “Communicating in Conflict” by July 11, 2026, or risk a further suspension of her certificate.
In setting the penalty, the commissioner said Lewick failed to create a positive classroom environment and had previously been warned about similar conduct on more than one occasion.
