The hearing for a former La Ronge, Sask. high school teacher and basketball coach accused of sharing a bed with a student and running ‘strip basketball’ drills thirty years ago began Tuesday morning.
Martina Cain, who worked at Churchill Community High School, was charged with four counts of professional misconduct stemming from incidents between 1986 and 1989 by the Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board (SPTRB) in October 2016.
Cain pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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At the hearing, the former student who filed the complaint occasionally broke down with emotion, testifying that she slept in the same bed as Cain when her parents left town for medical appointments.
The professional conduct committee tasked with carrying out a decision heard that Cain was a trusted friend of the family because she was the student’s basketball coach and a member of the family’s church.
The complainant testified that the pair was clothed, there was no inappropriate touching or talk of sex, but she wasn’t given a choice to sleep anywhere else.
The complainant’s mother testified as well, and said she trusted her daughter was in safe hands with Cain.
“I assumed she would be sleeping on a couch or a spare bed,” her mother said.
“It’s still shocking… I feel betrayed.”
Also in that time period, the former student said she was asked to strip completely naked before entering a hot tub with Cain and another woman while Cain was house-sitting a private residence. She testified that the two women were already nude.
“They made it seem like normal,” the complainant testified.
The professional misconduct allegedly extended to the Churchill Community High School gymnasium during basketball practices as well.
A total of four former students, including the original complainant, testified that Cain ran a basketball drill where the team took turns taking foul shots. Cain allegedly told the players to remove an article of clothing for every missed shot.
A former student witness who called in to the hearing via Skype testified that she had removed her shoes, socks, shorts and her bra before leaving the gym in anger.
However, the same former student said she wrote off the drill as a “stupid, jock thing” and didn’t tell her parents about it.
Another individual who took part in the drill said she was afraid to tell her parents about the drill because the basketball team was new and she was worried that without Cain the girls would no longer be able to play.
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A fourth charge alleges that Cain told the complainant to steal a tray from A&W while travelling with the basketball team.
The hearing on Tuesday was just the second one conducted by the SPTRB which was made responsible for upholding standards of conduct when it was established in October 2015.
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“When you send your kids to school, you should have faith in our teaching profession to take good care of your students,” SPTRB registrar Trevor Smith said.
“We just want the public to understand that the teaching profession takes that trust very seriously.”
The hearing is expected to finish Wednesday following Cain’s testimony.
If found guilty, Cain’s teaching certificate may be cancelled or suspended.
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