‘Are the memories reliable?’: Lawyers make closing statements at Meeko trial

Jurors in the Johnny Meeko trial will begin deliberations Monday, after hearing eight days of testimony on the sex-related charges made against the former school teacher.

Crown prosecutor Abel Dion and defence lawyer Ilan Neuman made their closing statements Friday at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

Meeko, who spent 36 years as a teaching assistant and then a classroom teacher at Nuiyak Elementary School in Sanikiluaq, is being tried on 17 criminal charges brought forth by 11 complainants who were his students between the 1970s and early 2000s.

The Crown initially brought forth 18 charges, four of which were new, however one of the new charges was stayed Friday. The other 14 are being retried after Meeko won an appeal of his 2017 conviction.

Meeko’s lawyer, Neuman, spoke first Friday.

He advised jurors to pay attention to witnesses’ memories, and the fact that in some instances Meeko “made an admission that went against his interest.”

He said some of the allegations — such as Meeko spanking the students on their birthdays — may have been the norm in schools at the time.

According to Neuman, complainants may have had an “evolving memory” that made it difficult for them to accurately recall what happened years ago.

He said that might be why there were variations between what some of them told RCMP officers when filing their complaints against Meeko years ago and what they testified to at the trial.

“The concern here is that somebody may be absolutely telling the truth but wrong,” Neuman said. “So the real question is, are the memories reliable?”

Regarding Meeko making an admission that went against his own interest, Neuman reminded jurors Meeko accepted certain facts when trying to answer questions.

For instance, Meeko agreed that he was a strict teacher and that he did touch students, but not sexually.

Neuman told jurors Meeko confirmed the school had sent a letter in the late 1990s telling teachers they were no longer allowed to touch students.

Meeko testified that some practices — such as spanking students on their birthdays — had occurred and were brought forth by Qallunaat, or white, teachers at the time.

“We’re talking about a different era,” Neuman said. “We have to judge by considering what was the norm then.”

“Sexually touching students was always forbidden, but touching students was much more common in that era than in this era,” Neuman said.

“In 1973, classrooms and relations between teachers and students were very different. The law was the same, but the practices were different.”

In his closing statement Dion, the Crown lawyer, responded to Neuman’s comments about witnesses’ ability to recall old incidents and Meeko’s testimony.

“You don’t need to be a lawyer or judge to understand what sexual assault is,” Dion said.

While the assaults are alleged to have occurred a long time ago, “delay in reporting is never a good reason to not believe victims of sexual assaults.”

“The law does recognize that sometimes victims of historical assaults will have difficulty remembering smaller details, like dates … they might be confused a little about the sequence of events,” Dion said

“The question you have to ask yourself is: considering the entirety of the evidence, does this minor inconsistency raise a reasonable doubt?”

Dion alleged Meeko was trying to distance himself from the most serious charges by accepting some of the evidence submitted while denying the rest.

He said Meeko’s testimony that he was not touching students for sexual purposes was not credible, considering the parts of the bodies he’s alleged to have touched.

An example, Dion said, was Meeko confirming he patted students on their butts and touched their chests to get them to stop slouching and sit up straight.

“There were other options, obviously, that Mr. Meeko could have used to get a kid to sit down properly in his classroom,” Dion said.

“He could have simply told the student to sit down properly. After all, Mr. Meeko did say that he had a strong voice in the classroom.”

While Meeko said certain practices — like spanking, and touching students — were introduced by Qallunaat teachers, Dion said inheriting the practice was “not a valid defence.”

“The fact that others did it is never a valid defence in law,” he said. “It’s still a criminal offence even if [he] learned it from others.”