Teacher charged with assaulting Nunavut student stands trial

The trial of a teacher charged with assaulting a student in Nunavut took place on Tuesday. 

Michelle Wolf was charged with one count of assault after an incident in a classroom at Sakku School in Coral Harbour in 2023.

Wolf was teaching Grades 7, 8 and 9 at the time, court heard. 

Both the student and Wolf testified on Tuesday — the only two witnesses in the one-day trial. The student's identity is protected under a mandatory publication ban because they are underage. 

Court heard that Wolf was trying to stop a fight between two students in May 2023, after one student took another student's hat. 

The two students started climbing on desks and running around. 

Wolf told the court she called in the hallway for some help, but no one came. She then pulled one of the students by their hoodie to get them to stop. 

That student then complained to the principal and later filed a report with RCMP. 

Wolf said she pulled the student by the waist of their hoodie and held on for about half a second because she was worried the two students would hurt themelves or someone else. 

The student testified that Wolf held on for longer, and that she pulled them by their hood. 

The student said they were physically hurt by Wolf during the interaction. Wolf said she did not intend to hurt them. 

Wolf had been teaching in the community for seven months. 

In closing arguments, Lisa Helps, Wolf's lawyer, said Wolf did as much as she could given the situation, and that there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove that she had intended to hurt the student. 

Crown lawyer Romy Leclerc said there were other ways of dealing with the situation and that the student's testimony showed Wolf did intend to harm them when she pulled their hoodie. 

Justice Mia Manocchio is expected to give her decision on the case on March 17.