'I was shamed': B.C. teaching assistant fired over OnlyFans site, planning human rights complaint

A Metro Vancouver teaching assistant who was fired for refusing to “immediately cease” all online activity on the adult subscription service OnlyFans tells CTV News she has hired a lawyer, and will be filling a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal.

On June 16, School District 43 informed Maple Ridge resident Kristin MacDonald by email, that she had been terminated.

“I think that I faced a lot of discrimination, and I was shamed by the district,” said MacDonald, who is know as Ava James online. 

OnlyFans is a subscription-based service, largely used for adult content.

In May, the school district warned that if she didn’t comply by removing all online content on sites that included TikTok and Instagram, she could face disciplinary measures “including termination.”

“We’ve gone a long time shaming people that make the videos, but accepting the fact that everybody watches pornography,” she argued.

The single mom admitted she has posted images and videos of herself in provocative poses, and sometimes there is nudity, but MacDonald insisted that she needed to keep her site going to supplement her income.

“It doesn’t feel right that I should be persecuted for something that I was doing in my private life,” she said. “It just doesn’t feel right, you know?”

In addition to her plans to file a human rights complaint, MacDonald said she is being supported by her union, and will fight the district’s decision.

“I think it’s a labour issue, I think it’s a woman’s rights issue,” she told CTV News. “I think it’s a pretty big double standard.”