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September 19, 2023 - 7:00 PM
A BC teacher won't return to the classroom again after the regulator learned about his relationship with a former student more than a decade later.
Ian Alexander McKenzie signed an agreement with the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation admitting to the relationship that grew increasingly intimate until they could "officially date" when she turned 18.
On Sept. 6, the regulator took away his teaching licence, which he had held since 2006. On Aug. 26, 2022, the regulator said someone complained about McKenzie, prompting an investigation.
The decision doesn't name the school he worked at, but does say he taught social studies and physical education at a secondary school in Sooke from 2007 until he was suspended in September 2022.
During his first year of teaching, McKenzie met a 15-year-old student who was "vulnerable and unsupported," began to confide in him about "personal matters," according to the regulator.
Beginning in her Grade 10 year, he "breached professional boundaries" with the student, but it became "more personal and intimate" once she was in grade 12, according to the decision.
"This relationship included sending emails and texts to the student of a personal nature," the decision reads. At least some of those were sexual in nature.
He would also spend time with her both in school and at her home, and they would have "long hugs and similar touching," according to the regulator.
"Mckenzie told the student that this relationship had to be kept secret and that they could 'officially date' when the student was 18," the decision reads. "Shortly after the student graduated, McKenzie and the student began dating and this relationship became sexual within months of the student's graduation."
McKenzie signed a consent agreement with the regulator admitting to the relationship. He agreed to never apply for a teaching licence in BC again, admitting he was aware she was vulnerable and that he had a position of power and trust.
"McKenzie allowed the teacher-student relationship to become exploitative of the student for his own personal and sexual advantage," the decision reads.
The decision did not say how long the pair maintained their relationship and it's not clear why the complaint only came forward more than a decade after it began.
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