Nunavut officials rapped teacher for “touching students inappropriately”

Nuiyak School in Sanikiluaq, in a file photo from 2008. In 2009, Nunavut education officials gave ex-Nuiyak School teacher Johnny Meeko a letter of reprimand for “touching students inappropriately” but Meeko said in court Aug. 24 that he doesn’t remember getting the letter. Meeko’s trial on 32 counts alleging sex crimes against children has adjourned and will resume Dec. 8 at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavut’s education department issued former Sanikiluaq teacher Johnny Meeko a letter of reprimand in 2009 for touching students inappropriately, the Nunavut Court of Justice heard in Iqaluit Aug. 24.

Crown prosecutor Amy Porteous entered the letter into evidence Aug. 24 on the seventh day of Meeko’s sex crimes trial.

But Meeko denied any knowledge of that letter, which Porteous said is on his personnel file at the Nunavut education department.

“Do you remember getting [the letter]?” Porteous asked Meeko during cross-examination, which lasted about two and a half hours.

“No,” Meeko answered.

The letter confirmed a fact-finding meeting with officials that Meeko attended on Jan. 8, 2009, Porteous said.

“You stated at the time it was your practise to pat primary students on the bottom to get them to sit down at their desk,” Porteous said referring to the letter, signed by the territory’s superintendent of schools at the time.

“Even though I received this [letter], I didn’t do that,” Meeko said.

Earlier in the cross-examination, Meeko told Porteous that his memory was impaired from being anesthetised for two separate surgeries in 2009 and 2010.

“Is it possible you’ve just forgotten about this letter?” Porteous asked.

“Maybe,” Meeko replied.

“And it’s possible that you’ve forgotten about the meeting?”

“Probably.”

“And you forgot about patting students on their bums?”

“Maybe.”

“And that you’ve forgotten about touching students on their vaginas?”

“I’ve never done that,” Meeko said.

Meeko, 61, faces 32 charges, most of which are historic sex crimes alleged by former Grade 3 students who attended Nuiyak Elementary School between 1972 and 2007.

The complainants — eight women and one man — testified over the first four days of the trial, which began Aug. 17.

The most serious allegations Meeko faces come from the last complainant to testify, who said Meeko raped her three times over two school years when she was about 15 years old.

In a recorded statement at the Sanikiluaq RCMP detachment in Aug. 2012, Meeko admitted to many of the allegations Sharkey heard from complainants during the trial.

But Meeko recanted that admission when he began testifying in his own defence Aug. 22, saying police intimidated him into saying the allegations were true.

The five-hour recorded statement, played in court Aug. 21 and Aug. 22, shows at least three RCMP officers using different tactics to elicit a confession from Meeko, including telling him that they already know he committed the offences.

The allegations of rape, however, were filed after police recorded that statement.

The complainant who made those allegations is only four years younger than Meeko, Porteous said in court Aug. 24.

“She was probably more mature than the other girls?” Porteous asked Meeko.

“Yes,” Meeko answered.

“Not so much like a student, but someone you could be friends with?” Porteous asked.

“Yes,” Meeko replied.

Meeko said he did have sex with the complainant, but only after she contacted him, crying and saying she wanted to have sex with him.

And that happened a few years after the complainant alleges Meeko raped her, the former teacher testified.

Meeko said the school did have a furnace room like the one the complainant described in her testimony as the room where Meeko allegedly raped her.

“She was trying to tell that story as if it was me, but it was somebody else,” Meeko said.

“Why was [the complainant] crying?” Porteous asked.

“Because she wanted to have sex with me,” Meeko answered.

“So you did her a favour?” Porteous asked.

“Just to calm her down, so she could stop crying.”

Meeko answered many of Porteous’ questions Aug. 24 by saying police intimidated him into confessing crimes he did not commit.

“I want you to know that because I was so scared I soiled my pants,” Meeko said.

But Porteous told Meeko the recorded statement shows the police officers being polite with Meeko.

“You’ve heard a recording of all of your conversations with the RCMP, right?” Porteous asked.

“Yes, but it doesn’t include everything… what you don’t see is the hate they gave me, the shouting they gave me, the accusations they gave me,” Meeko said.

After the lunch break Aug. 24, however, Sharkey confirmed with Meeko’s defence lawyer, James Morton, that the recorded statement was complete.

“[The recorded statement] is the complete dealings with the accused, from the time of arrest to the end of his statement?” Sharkey said to Morton.

“Yes,” the defence lawyer answered.

Just before court adjourned around 3 p.m. Aug. 24, Porteous put one last question to Meeko.

“I’m going to suggest to you that you did all of the things that you described in the [police statement] recording with those children… ,” Porteous began.

“No,” Meeko cut in.

Porteous led Meeko through the allegations the nine complainants made over the trial, all of which Meeko denied, saying he didn’t even teach some of the complainants.

“You know it’s wrong to touch kids sexually?” asked Porteous.

“Yes,” Meeko answered.

“And you know that it’s wrong to lie?”

“I have learned that police lie, and children lie about these things too,” Meeko said.

Through much of the cross-examination Meeko kept his eyes closed, listening to the interpreter, and answered questions calmly.

From the court gallery, where Meeko’s wife and daughter sat for most of the trial, only Meeko’s head was visible above the frame of the witness box.

Sharkey adjourned the trial until Dec. 8, saying the evidence portion of the trial is now complete.

Meeko will remain on bail, living in Iqaluit, until that time, Sharkey said, when lawyers are expected to give their final arguments to the judge.