“Unacceptable”: Alberta Education Minister condemns association over allegations that teacher abused 200 children

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EDMONTON — Alberta’s education minister has said “nothing was on the table” following revelations that the province’s teachers’ association failed to report the problem to police. one of its members who admitted to having “mentally and physically assaulted his students”.

This week, a $ 40 million class action lawsuit was filed alleging that former junior high school teacher Michael Gregory abused some 200 children between 1989 and 2005 at John Ware Junior High in Calgary.

The lawsuit, filed by former students, named the estate of Gregory, who died this year, and the Calgary Board of Education as defendants.

It emerged that in 2006, the Alberta Teachers’ Association investigated Gregory and discovered that he had abused children at John Ware Junior High. He also “coerced and manipulated students for his own benefit,” an investigation concluded. But this information in 2006 was not passed on to the police.

“As clearly evidenced by this case, the process of discipline of teachers must be improved,” Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told reporters on Wednesday.

A statement from the Alberta Teachers’ Association said this week that “the role of the association is to receive complaints and assess those complaints against teaching standards.”

“If we were to file a complaint in another arena, it could lead to apprehension of bias and potentially jeopardize the results of our legislative processes,” the spokesperson said.

But LaGrange said she fully expects “in all cases involving criminal allegations or potentially criminal behavior, the ATA and school authorities to forward this information to the appropriate authorities as soon as possible.”

“I find it unacceptable for an organization to say, ‘This is not my problem’,” she said. “We are currently examining what additional steps we can take to ensure the safety of students in the classroom. “

The Alberta Teachers’ Association also said that “the nature” of “many of the allegations that have surfaced more recently” about Gregory were not part of the 2006 investigation.

Currently, the ATA does not have a mandate to report publicly on findings of teacher misconduct in Alberta. Some provinces, including Ontario and British Columbia, have professional bodies that regularly publish findings of teacher misconduct.

Alberta recently passed Bill 85, the Students First Act, which aims to help change the situation in this province and establish an online portal where teacher certificate status can be found. for people working in the profession. LaGrange said, however, that the ATA’s failure to notify police of Gregory’s conduct in 2006 was more needed evidence.

Jonathan Teghmeyer, a communications officer at ATA, said the association would not object to the types of changes the minister suggested on Wednesday, depending on how they were implemented.

“It’s very rare that the first point of complaint in these cases is made to us, especially when there are criminal allegations involved,” Teghmeyer said.

In Gregory’s case in 2006, he was to be declared ineligible for association membership for two years and a recommendation was to be made to the Minister of Education that his teaching certificate be suspended for two years. Gregory did not return to teaching afterwards.

Experts said the case underscores the need for an independent body to deal with allegations made against teachers.

Plaintiffs in the proposed class action lawsuit claim Gregory has cared for and sexually assaulted minors for years and school officials failed to act.

He would make inappropriate comments to underage students, ask them to commit sexual acts, give them gifts and go on excursions with them, according to the complainants. Sexual abuse would follow, the statement said.

Three plaintiffs in the lawsuit say Gregory has never hidden his behavior at school and they are calling the Calgary Board of Education to account.

In early 2021, Gregory died on Quadra Island in British Columbia in an apparent suicide just days after being charged with 17 counts of sexual offenses involving six former students. Police said the first complaint reached them in 2020, triggering an investigation.

Since then, Calgary police say 35 witnesses have provided information, along with 10 other victims. The investigation is ongoing.

The figure of 200 victims, cited in the lawsuit, has not been publicly corroborated by the authorities.

CORRECTION – December 1, 2021 – This story has been updated to correct the length of time the Alberta Teachers’ Association has declared Michael Gregory ineligible for membership.

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