A teacher by the name of Ian McKenzie has been banned from teaching at Edward Milne Community School, a high school in Sooke for initiating an inappropriate relationship with a student of his from the time they were in Grade 10.
According to a report from the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation (BCCTR), the Sooke teacher overstepped numerous boundaries which hold teachers accountable to the youths they are meant to educate.
McKenzie had been a social studies and physical education teacher at Edward Milne since 2006, when he was issued his Professional Certificate of Qualification.
In the 2007-08 school year, McKenzie took advantage of the fact that a student who was in Grade 10 at the time and just 15-years-old was vulnerable and felt unsupported.
This student would confide in McKenzie about personal matters in their life and he would subsequently and frequently breach professional boundaries with them throughout that school year.
Once the student was in Grade 12, McKenzie and the student entered into a more personal and intimate relationship.
The two would exchange emails and texts of a personal and sexual nature. They would frequently meet up outside of school hours including at McKenzie’s home.
McKenzie and the Grade 12 student would reportedly engage in “long hugs and similar touching” and he told his student that their relationship had to be a secret, and once they turned 18-years-old, the two of them could begin officially dating.
The report also noted that their relationship became sexual withing months of the student’s graduation.
The complaint about this inappropriate relationship was submitted to the BCCTR in August of last year and the findings which ban him from teaching were drawn up and signed by September 6th, 2023.
