Jury deliberating slew of charges against former Sanikiluaq teacher

Judge Paul Bychok addressed jurors as they were set to deliberate the fate of former Sanikiluaq teacher Johnny Meeko on Monday in the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit.

A teacher at the Nuiyak Elementary School for 36 years, Meeko is charged with 17 sex-related criminal charges from his time at the school. Three of the charges were laid in 2019, and 14 others are being retried after Meeko won an appeal of his 2017 conviction.

The allegations were brought forth by 11 complainants who were students in Meeko’s Grade 3 class between the 1970s and early 2000s. Jurors heard from them, along with three Crown witnesses who were not complainants, over the course of the two-week trial.

They heard from Meeko himself, who testified in court last week. As well, a relative of Meeko’s who was in his Grade 3 class in the ’90s testified in his defence.

There is no one type of victim or perpetrator, Bychok told the jury when providing instructions.

“Some people have ideas about the kind of person who would wind up being a victim of sexual offences. Similarly, some people have ideas about the kind of person who would perpetrate these offences,” Bychok said in his address.

“Similarly, you might expect that if a person was abused sexually that they might have said something while it was happening, or they might have acted [a certain] way, or after the fact they might have said something to someone, or after the fact they might have gone to the police or whatever.

“I’m building up to tell you that there is no one typical kind of victim, just like there’s no one kind of person capable of committing sexual abuse.”

As well as deciding for themselves which evidence to believe, Bychok told the jury they have to decide how much weight to put on evidence.

“When you’re thinking about the witness’s evidence, you can accept absolutely everything a witness says, you can accept some of what they say and not accept some other things that they say as part of your analysis, or you can disbelieve a witness altogether and not accept anything,” he said.

Bychok encouraged jurors to focus on each of the charges individually as “mini-trials,” and to think about whether or not they can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

“In this context, if you were to decide, for example, in relation to any of these 17 counts that Mr. Meeko was probably guilty or likely guilty — that’s not proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.

“The key is when you ask yourself, ‘Am I sure?'”

He also addressed the Crown and defence’s cases individually, noting arguments made in relation to inconsistent facts, motives of the complainants and suggestions of collusion.

“I’m the judge of the law and you are the judge of the facts,” Bychok told jurors.

“Your job as jury members is to find the meaning in the evidence.”

The jury entered sequestration following Bychok’s address.

Meeko’s trial began at the Iqaluit courthouse on May 23.