Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy is calling for an independent investigation into why a young girl who was sexually exploited by a special education teacher was able to confide in a teacher without feedback.
Posted at 3:37pm
Véronie Campeau, 41, pleaded guilty to sexual contact with a minor under the age of 16, solicitation of sexual contact and sexual exploitation at the Montreal courthouse on Wednesday.
For years, she “officially” formed a “couple” with an at-risk student at an east Montreal high school. “That was known. It wasn’t done in secret,” Me Gary Martin, the defendant’s attorney, summed up in a press crowd on Wednesday.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Véronie Campeau (centre, wearing white coat) pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of sexually assaulting a minor, invitation to sexual contact and sexual exploitation.
“Everyone looked down,” says a police report.
“In light of such serious and worrying facts,” MP Marwah Rizqy urged Education Minister Bernard Drainville “to launch an independent regulatory inquiry now.”
In her statement to the police, the student explained in particular that in May 2014 she confided in a teacher from the Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry school that she was “coupled” with Véronie Campeau.
“Did the teacher report this denunciation to the DPJ? To the school board? If so, how has this denunciation progressed or not progressed? If no report has been made to DPJ and/or management, why? These questions are very important in understanding how such a toxic and criminal relationship could have lasted for so long,” Marwah Rizqy wrote in a letter to Education Minister Bernard Drainville.
The teacher in question did not respond to messages from La Presse on Wednesday.
“The victim has shown tremendous courage, it is our duty not to let him down a second time,” concludes the opposition’s official critic on education in his letter to Minister Drainville.
The Office of the Secretary of Education did not immediately comment on this request for an independent investigation.
“Let me be very clear: that an adult, parent, school staff or any authority figure knew the facts and did nothing is disturbing and totally unacceptable. The people who know and those who don’t denounce are accomplices,” Secretary Drainville wrote in a message sent by his press secretary.
“It is your duty to report when you become aware of stories of abuse or aggression that are harming our young people,” he adds.
With Louis-Samuel Perron, La Presse