'Art therapy piece' causes ISIS scare
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, April 3, 2017
SALLIQ/CORAL HARBOUR
A Grade 9 Coral Harbour teacher who posted an altered photo of an ISIS execution in a discussion on social media was suspended and is under investigation, due to community concerns.
Coral Harbour teacher Moses Suzuki is under investigation after posting an altered photo of an ISIS execution on social media. - photo via Facebook |
The photo, which was online for only a few minutes, showed an altered picture of the beheading of American journalist James Foley. In the photo the journalist's face is replaced with the face of teacher Moses Suzuki and a Coral Harbour woman is added to the image beside the executioner.
Suzuki reached out to Nunavut News/North in an e-mail. The subject of his e-mail read: "ISIS Scare In Coral Harbour."
Suzuki confirmed he had previously been in a relationship with the woman. He stated the photo was in response to comments he called "cyber-bullying" directed at him on a private community Facebook page.
"I just lost my mind and posted that picture," he wrote.
Suzuki stated he made the photo at home a month prior as a form of "art therapy" to relieve feelings of stress he was under.
"I acknowledge it was a mistake for me to post such a thing online ... I would like to apologize to the community for my behaviour. As a teacher for 23 years, I should have known better."
It is his first year working as a teacher in Coral Harbour. He noted some extracurricular activities were cancelled or postponed due to his suspension.
"What we have here is not so much a systematic mistake but an individual making an unfortunate decision," said John MacDonald, assistant deputy minister for the Department of Education.
Following any such incident, the department will debrief with the regional district education authority (DEA) and the community school to see what support is required, MacDonald said.
He noted the department has dealt with cyber-bullying and "unfortunate" photos in the past.
Around 280 students are enrolled at Sakku School in Coral Harbour. School was not canceled on March 27 after the weekend post and 160 students attended that day.
"It is my understanding that there were some parents who kept their kids home," he said.
"We've not heard from individual parents."
He said the department was receiving "signals" that people were upset in the hamlet.
When contacted, staff at the hamlet office said there was not much talk about the incident around town. The school - which currently has an acting principal - and the DEA directed all comment to the Department of Education.
"It's an opportunity for us to reinforce important messaging around the uses of social media and how people communicate on that platform," said MacDonald.
An online safety pamphlet provided by the Nunavut Teachers' Association warns: "More and more often educators in Nunavut are being disciplined or having their contracts terminated as a result of poor choices in online behaviour."
The flyer also reads: "don't post information, comments or pictures that would be embarrassing if they appeared on the front page of a newspaper."
All teachers in the territory are given this type of social media and sensitivity information every fall in both hard and soft copy, said Heather Campbell, the association's assistant executive director.
"We do training each fall with representatives from each of our schools," she said. "We have a code of ethics as well that applies to online behaviour as well as in person."
The association represents teachers who are under investigation on a request basis.
