Catholic school teacher was fired for showing graphic, violent video to Grade 5 class

A Catholic elementary school teacher in Vancouver has been formally reprimanded after showing a graphic war video, including scenes of torture, to his Grade 5 class more than two years ago.

Hani Nabil Naguib Amin Malti showed the age-inappropriate, graphic YouTube video about the Crusades to his class at a private school on Jan. 12, 2017, according to a decision from the B.C. commissioner for teacher regulation.

A consent resolution agreement entered into between the commissioner and Malti said the seven-minute video included graphic drawings of violence, torture and persecution. Students said they felt disturbed and scared after seeing the footage, saying they couldn't get the images "out of their minds."

The Crusades were church-sanctioned religious wars that attempted to recover land from Muslim rule during the 11th century.

Malti was employed by the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese at the time. One week after students saw the video, Malti was fired. 

The consent resolution agreement also said the school organization handed Malti a three-day suspension the same day he was fired, and applied it retroactively to work days he'd already missed that week.

The school principal reported Malti to the commissioner the following month. The commissioner presented a resolution agreement to Mali that May, but the citation was not issued until Aug. 29, 2019 — two years and three months later.

The agreement, posted online Tuesday, does not account for the lapse.

Malti admitted to professional misconduct as part of the resolution agreement and was formally "reprimanded." His B.C. teaching certificate is still valid and expires on Jun. 30, 2020.