A surprisingly large number of teachers are sexually abusing students, leaving a trail of devastated young victims, according to an extensive Ontario inquiry. Many, if not most, of the cases are never reported School authorities often don’t handle complaints seriously enough, or let sex offenders quietly move on to another unknowing school, said the 569-page report. The education community even has a slang term — “passing the trash” — for allowing pedophiles to slip away from one school and “hunt again at another.”
The inquiry was prompted by the case of Sault Ste. Marie teacher convicted of sex-related offences against 13 girls from 1972 to 1993. The board’s response was “completely inadequate and, indeed, harmful,” the inquiry found. Officials discouraged the victims, blaming them for the incidents and threatening lawsuits or criminal prosecution.
