Justin Francis wants six months of his life back.
He says he was expelled from the Maritime Business College for not wearing a mask when he was eating and drinking coffee while on a break.
Francis also doesn’t want to pay the remaining $10,000 in tuition he alleges the Lower Sackville private career college is demanding from him. He has appealed the school's decision to the Department of Labour and Advanced Education but that is a lengthy process, he says.
The school did not respond to repeated requests for comment, so the sequence of events described are based on Francis’ description.
According to Francis, on March 4, he was eating a cookie and drinking a coffee at his desk during the morning break between classes in the 14-month correction and law enforcement program.
"I did nothing different than any of the other students eating during first break. I am a paying student and I came here this morning to learn."
- Justin Francis
With no teacher in the classroom, a fellow student asked him to put his mask on.
“I asked her to leave me alone,” said Francis.
“How am I going to drink my coffee with a mask on? She then hollered and screamed at me and told me to put my mask on.”
With a group of students demanding he put on his mask, Francis left to go to the washroom to splash water on his face to calm down.
When Francis returned, he said the instructor returned to the class and told him to go home for the day.
“I was shocked and I said ‘What do you mean, why am I being sent home?'” recalled Francis.
“I did nothing different than any of the other students eating during first break. I am a paying student and I came here this morning to learn. I continued to refuse to put my mask on and the instructor dismissed the class.”
Francis admits he was upset but adds that he never swore at or sought to intimidate the instructor or school administrator who came in the room to speak to him.
“Then they were both standing over me trying to reprimand me,” said Francis.
“I am a Black Nova Scotian from Yarmouth. If they are going to say they were afraid of me or I was aggressive, in reality I was just emotional but I was very much in control of myself.”
Francis was escorted out of the school by the police.
Francis was suspended pending an investigation by the school and then on March 17, he received a letter dismissing him from the program that cited him for violating the student guide and inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour.
“I just feel my career has been stolen from me and my life is ruined,” said the 36-year-old who previously worked as a chef.
“I was trying to start over, start a new career and become a sheriff or maybe some day a police officer. That’s all tainted now.”
