Teacher files wrongful termination suit

Woman claims she was fired after showing video about Israel-Hamas conflict to Grade 8 class

- CALVI LEON

A former Greenwood College School teacher is taking legal action against the private school, claiming she was wrongfully terminated after sharing content about the Israel-Hamas war in her math class and on social media.

Cassandra Della Mora, 33, worked as an educator at the coed middle and high school in midtown Toronto for nine years before being fired in June, according to a lawsuit recently filed in Superior Court.

The claim says Mora was fired without cause after playing a short video on the conflict in her Grade 8 math class and re-posting a portion of an Instagram post expressing a pro-Palestinian stance to her personal account. Following the latter incident, the suit alleges, Mora was bullied by a colleague and falsely accused of sharing content that was antisemitic.

"Mora pleads that the termination of her employment was motivated by reasons relating to the internal political machinations of the (school's) leadership and were malicious in nature," the suit says.

Mora alleges that the object of her termination was either to "punish" her pro-Palestine views or rid Greenwood of faculty who sympathized with the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

Melissa Eldridge and Callum Hutchinson, lawyers for the school, told the court they intend to defend against the allegations, which have not been tested in court.

Heather Thomas, head of Greenwood, wrote in an email that the school could not comment because the matter is before the courts and "relates to a private employment issue."

Mora's case is the latest example of how Canadian institutions and employers have become tangled in the tensions of the Israel-Hamas war.