Inappropriate relationship with teen gets Vancouver Island teacher banned
A teacher on Vancouver Island has been banned from the profession after investigators with the Ministry of Education learned about an inappropriate relationship he had with a high school student.
Teacher Ian Alexander Stephen McKenzie met the student back in 2007 when they were just 15 and, according to discipline documents posted online, the relationship became more serious when the student entered their Grade 12 year.
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McKenzie was a gym and social studies teacher in Sooke and apparently understood that the 15-year-old in his class felt “venerable” and “unsupported” after the student confessed personal matters to him.
Two years later, when the student was in Grade 12, the student-teacher relationship got more personal and intimate. According to discipline documents, it included texts and emails discussing personal and sexual matters, and spending time together outside school including at the teacher’s home.
The teacher told the student to keep the relationship a secret until they were 18 and could “officially date.” They indeed began dating after the student graduated, with the discipline documents suggesting the relationship became sexual within months of graduation.
Discipline documents say McKenzie used his position of power and trust within the student-teacher relationship to exploit the student for his own personal and sexual advantage.
The matter was brought to education officials’ attention in 2022 and now McKenzie has had his teaching certificate cancelled and has been banned from holding any teaching position in BC.