Disciplinary hearing centres on teacher’s 15-second hug with student

School security camera footage of a nearly 15-second hug between a teacher and one of her students was repeatedly screened and scrutinized at a historic hearing.

“This isn’t a fleeting or a casual embrace. The two were comfortable with each other,” teacher commissioner lawyer Tristan Sandulak told a professional disciplinary panel on Tuesday.

Sandulak made a case for cancelling Janice Wen Ying Ma’s teaching certificate, citing the early career educator’s alleged conduct and “credibility issues.”

The lawyer presented on behalf of Noni Classen, the independent commissioner who oversees Manitoba’s new teacher registry, during a videoconference that took up much of the day.

Ma is accused of crossing professional boundaries with “Student A” before and after being fired in May 2025 from a Manitoba-accredited private school that delivers local curriculum overseas.

The ex-art teacher at Clifford International School in Guangzhou, China, represented herself at the hearing — the first to be open to the public.

The event officially got underway via Microsoft Teams at 10:30 a.m., about 30 minutes later than scheduled, owing to a series of technical glitches.

Thirteen participants, including a three-person panel chaired by Gord Schumacher, the designated public representative, were in attendance.

Alison Bourrier, a labour relations consultant for the Manitoba School Boards Association, served as the employer representative. Kevin Sterner, a private school principal in Winnipeg, is the panel’s certified teacher.

Two former colleagues of Ma’s joined the conference separately to provide testimony and answer questions about her on Tuesday.

Ma positioned herself as a rookie Chinese-Canadian teacher who made poor judgment calls while supporting a girl who confided in her during the 2024-25 school year.

She denied engaging in an inappropriate relationship with the student, who another teacher at the international school told the hearing had a known “crush” on his colleague.

An undisputed video of a May 14, 2025, incident involving Ma and Student A served as key evidence.

The panel was presented with a series of Instagram messages the student exchanged with another user that day, hours after Ma was suspended from work amid an investigation.

The online communication occurred in a mix of English and Mandarin. The topics of conversation included a suspension that could result in a suspended individual being “sent back to Canada,” preparing a defence and a kiss between the two.

“The place where we kissed could not be seen,” the student wrote in one message. Another indicates the teen told the user, whom they referred to as “baby,” they could make it through a difficult situation together.

Ma rejected Sandulak’s claims she was behind the account, but the commissioner’s lawyer told the panel there was “no reasonable alternative.”

The CCTV footage shows Ma initiate an extended hug with Student A in an empty drama room around 11 a.m.

Ma appears to be lifted off the ground by the student before the duo disappear into a secluded storage room that is not equipped with security cameras.

When another teacher enters the area, Ma leaves via a back stairwell. The student can be seen scrambling to make it look as if she’d been using a nearby washroom before greeting the other adult.

The commissioner’s case was built around testimony from the adult who interrupted the encounter and the principal he approached to report his concerns.

The panel heard the disclosure resulted in separate meetings with a student and Ma and their accounts conflicted with security camera footage.

“I deny any facts of romantic or emotional connections that are beyond (appropriate) student and teacher connections,” Ma said.

She indicated she offered the student a hug because they were upset after sharing personal information with her. Asked about the Instagram messages, Ma indicated Student A’s mother could have written them.

A panel decision is anticipated to be communicated to her within a month. Provincial legislation requires that the findings be published on the teacher registry.

It is unclear whether Ma, who studied at the University of British Columbia, has ever worked on Manitoba soil, let alone been to the province.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society confirmed that internal records show she has never been a member of the union that represents roughly 17,000 educators in public school divisions across the province.

The B.C. teacher registry shows Ma has an active teaching certificate in that province with no clear restrictions on it.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca