Teacher fired for showing alleged Magnotta video to students

If you're applying to be a teacher at Canadian schools for the job security, you probably shouldn't show students footage of a gruesome murder.

A 29-year-old supply teacher at Cavelier-De LaSalle High School in Montreal showed his grade 10 history class the shocking video that allegedly depicts the murder of Jun Lin at the hands of Luka Rocco Magnotta.

His students watched a naked, bound victim "being stabbed with an icepick, decapitated and dismembered," the National Post reports, adding that seasoned investigators have "been rattled" by the disturbing footage.

In one of the most obvious moves from a school board in recent history, the teacher was fired — effective immediately.

He might even face criminal charges.

"We're going to take a look at it now," Commander Ian Lafrenière told The Montreal Gazette. But he said he wouldn't say that someone will ultimately be charged. "We don't know. We'll be questioning people. We'll be looking at different possibilities and we'll see," he said.

The teacher's possible charges would fall under the "offences tending to corrupt morals" in the Criminal Code.

Here's where the story gets even more uncomfortable: the students asked to see the video in the first place. Some had already seen it at home. The students petitioned the school, asking that the teacher be allowed to keep his job, but it was too late.

The students had chosen by vote to watch the video in their history-and-civics class.

"We are all curious, and we all want to know what really happened," one female student told Radio-Canada. "But in the end I'm not sure it was really relevant. In the beginning we all wanted to know how it happened, but when I think about it, maybe it was not the right action to take."

Another student said that the teacher was hesitant to show the video. Perhaps most disturbing, another student admitted that not all the students wanted to see the scenes of horrific violence, but the overwhelming majority ruled.

Brittany Henriques,, a Cavelier-De LaSalle student who wasn't in the class, told the Canadian Press that the students should take some of the blame:

"The teacher is at fault completely, but so are the students." Henriques said. "They knew this was a real murder, they knew what was going on and they begged for it (to be shown)."

Henriques also called the viewing disrespectful to Lin's family, echoing many of the critics of the in-class screening.

The school provided a crisis team offering psychological services to the students who had seen the video. So far, only "a few" students have requested the services.

"A young teacher starts in a new job, you want to please the students, you want to get called back as a substitute teacher, and often you might want to give in to demands of students," said Chantal Longpré, president of the provincial federation of school principals. "But the students are not always capable of making the right choices, and they need guidance. This choice was completely inappropriate."

Nineteen years ago, a publication ban kept Paul Bernardo's grisly home videos from being accessible to the public. The internet has changed everything. Wisdom and discernment can't always be dictated by the government.

Kids, just say no to viewing murders online. And teachers, we expect you to lead by example.