VANCOUVER – A B.C. high school teacher has been fired after having sex with one of his former students just weeks after the teenager graduated.
The teacher professed his love for the 18-year-old and "initiated sexual activity" about six weeks after the student left school, according to a disciplinary decision that was posted online this week.
That followed four years of the pair "regularly and consistently" spending time together – including time alone on school grounds – beginning when the student was in Grade 9.
The decision from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation does not reveal the name of the teacher, his age or even the district where he worked. The province's Teachers Act allows the commissioner to withhold identifying information if doing so can help protect victims of abuse or exploitation from further hardship.
According to the decision, the incident that led to the teacher's firing wasn't the first time he crossed a line with the teenager. He previously had "physical contact with (the student) which was of a sexually suggestive nature" when the student was in Grade 11.
The teacher also admitted he knew the teenager had a crush on him while still in school.
His teaching certificate was cancelled in 2019, and he is barred from applying for another certificate to work at either public or private schools for at least a decade.
Correction: A previous version of this story reported the student was female. The disciplinary decision does not specify the teenager's gender.
