B.C. man faces 10 year teaching ban over sexualization of lessons, 'physical encounters' with recent grads

A Chilliwack man has been banned from teaching high school for at least 10 years over his communication with students—which included discussions related to intimate, personal and sexual matters.

The British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation has entered a consent agreement with Erik Rickard Leander Chadsey, who taught secondary school for the Chilliwack School District for 34 years before he retired in 2021.

In a disciplinary notice posted online Tuesday, the commissioner details seven events of concern that happened in Chadsey’s classroom over the course of two years, beginning in 2017.

These events occurred after Chadsey had “physical encounters” with recently graduated female students on three occasions between the summers of 1988 and 1993, according to the commissioner’s report.

More recently, his professional misconduct involved a “question of the day” that he would ask students.

“Two such questions related to first kisses and breaking up with a partner,” the commissioner wrote, adding that students weren’t required to provide answers, but some reported feeling pressured to do so.

Chadsey also did nothing to stop a student who went into detail about personal sexual encounters, the report explains.

Outside of his daily questions, the commissioner says Chadsey would occasionally share “age-inappropriate stories of information” with his students, and use similarly improper language while speaking with them.

According to the report, Chadsey would sometimes suggest two students “would make a good couple” and allowed students who liked each other to request being seated together.

He also played two movies, titled “How to Tell if You’re a Basic B*tch” and “How to Tell if You’re A Basic Bro,” to one of his classes, and some students reportedly found the former “demeaning towards women.”

The report details other inappropriate behaviour, including Chadsey’s habit of mimicking foreign accents, as well as one occasion where he mimicked “physical ticks and stutters” in front of students.

The district issued Chadsey a letter of expectation twice—once in 2007 and again in 2020—to remind him to maintain professional boundaries, before the commissioner ordered for an investigation into his behaviour on June 25, 2021.

A consent resolution agreement was proposed to Chadsey the following April, weeks after he relinquished his certificate of qualification.