BC teacher who referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as ‘animals’ gets reprimanded

A BC teacher who denied that racism existed, and referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as animals, has been reprimanded.

The public reprimand by the regulator comes after Coquitlam secondary school teacher Evgueni Vladimirovitch Melnik received an eight-day suspension from the school district.

According to a May 13 decision by the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, Melnik made the remarks while teaching a comparative civilization class.

“The views Melnik shared with his students did not align with the District’s expectation that teachers refrain from engaging in conduct or comment which disparages or discriminates against others,” the regulator said in the decision.

The decision said that in May 2021, Melnik was teaching about immortality and discussing the poem The Epic of Gilgamesh.

“Melnik drew a line graph on the blackboard with ‘Animals,’ ‘Humans,’ ‘Jesus,’ and ‘God.’ This was meant to illustrate the material and non-material nature of all human beings,” the decision read. “In discussing humans, Melnik said that humans were complex thinkers. With respect to God, Melnik said ‘everyone wants to reach this.'”

The teacher then referenced Black Lives Matter protesters and circled ‘animals’ three times.

In a conversation with a student after class, Melnik said that all lives mattered and that the police weren’t the problem.

In another class about the influence of the media, the teacher said that the media had people believing there were more than two genders.

“There are so many labels who cares,” he said.

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One LGBTQ student reported being “very upset” and impacted by this comment.

In another class that same month, the teacher said that racism didn’t exist and what was described as racism today came from cultural differences.

“As an example, Melnik talked about historic anti-Asian sentiments and referred to the ‘cultural traits’ of Asian people who had worked on the railroad in the 19th century in British Columbia and who he said were resented because they worked for less money and followed direction,” the decision read.

For making the comment, School District 88 suspended him without pay for eight days and made him take a diversity and sensitivity training program.

The school district then reported it to the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

“The view Melnik shared did not foster a safe environment for his students, nor did he role-model respect for diversity,” the decision read.

Along with the public reprimand, Melnik will also have to complete a creating a positive environment course.

The decision didn’t say which school Melnik was teaching at when he made the comments, but he first began teaching in 2007.

The regulator gave no indication of why it took four years from when he made the comments to issuing the public reprimand.