B.C. education assistant, fired for OnlyFans account, still fighting termination
Posted October 23, 2023 7:24 am.
Last Updated October 23, 2023 9:39 am.
An education assistant who used to work in Port Coquitlam and was fired for posts online, including on a private OnlyFans account, is still fighting what she says was wrongful termination.
Kristin MacDonald, who goes by “Ava James” online, had been working at Terry Fox Secondary School since 2015 but earlier this year was told to stop posting content to OnlyFans.
The 35-year-old content creator, who is also a single mother, says she started her OnlyFans account last year to supplement her income as an education assistant in the Coquitlam School District.
She didn’t stop, she says, for a “multitude of reasons,” and was notified via email in June that she had been let go.
“My long-term disability was denied,” said MacDonald, who adds she was on unpaid medical leave when she was told to take down her account.
“Without the income of OnlyFans, I had nothing.”
MacDonald has lawyered up and has two cases still making their way through their respective processes. One is against School District 43 — Coquitlam — for, what MacDonald feels, is wrongful termination.
“Going through the motions of grieving the decision with the union, as well as, putting in a Human Rights [Tribunal] complaint for discrimination. Just like anything, it’s a process. It takes time.”
She’s “cautiously optimistic” she’ll win her cases.
Overall, MacDonald hopes all of this changes the way people think about women’s rights.
“I hope in today’s day and age … I think as a society we need to either be open-minded fully and accept different lifestyles and different ways of living or, the opposite. I think, especially in the school district, we’ve made strides to be open-minded, but there are elements where we [have] not, clearly.”
She thinks people should be OK with how a woman chooses to explore her body, on or off camera, regardless of her profession.
“I certainly think that is one of the things that could be changed, is the ability to have a private life.”
MacDonald isn’t closed off to returning to the education field but says for now, she’s directing her attention to her modelling career.
