Former La Ronge, Sask. teacher Martina Cain got a chance on Wednesday to dispute shocking allegations about her, involving strip basketball, naked hot-tubbing, and sleeping in bed with a student.
Cain was charged with four counts of professional misconduct stemming from incidents between 1986 and 1989 by the Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board.
At a professional misconduct hearing, Cain admitted to sleeping in the same bed as a student back in the late eighties but said there was no alcohol or talk of sex involved, and they both slept with their clothes on.
Cain said the student’s parents had asked if their daughter could stay with them when they were out of town. She said she only had one bed, and she didn’t want either of them to sleep on the musty, cold floor.
“Certainly that would be misconduct, considered misconduct now, but given it happened 30 years ago, it happened in a small community, nothing untoward happened, my view is that it’s a different standard applied,” Cain’s lawyer Jay Watson said.
Cain denied the allegation that she had been naked in a hot tub with any of her students. She also testified that her players took off their socks and shoes if they missed a foul shot during a practice drill, but never shirts or shorts when she was present in the school’s gym.
The student had also accused the teacher of forcing her to steal a food tray from a restaurant.
Cain testified that she had never told any of her students to steal anything, although she did admit that she had probably told the student about how she herself had stolen a food tray once.
Roger Lepage, lawyer for the Professional Conduct Committee, argued that it doesn’t matter when these incidents happened, boundary violations such as these, don’t change with time.
“When a parent entrusts a student to a teacher, you would expect that teacher to respect those professional boundaries,” Lepage said.
“I think the clear message the professional conduct committee wants to put out is that it’s totally inappropriate for a teacher to have a student sleeping in the same bed,” he said.
“We had evidence from four former students describing the four instances, and we’re satisfied with the way the evidence went. And they have to now decide whether the evidence constitutes professional misconduct and what’s the appropriate penalty,” Lepage said.
Cain was contacted by police in January 2016, and one month later she gave notice that she would retire as a principal in La Ronge at Churchill Community High School that June.
Lepage is still calling for Cain’s teaching certificate to be revoked to stop her from substitute teaching or picking up any contracts.
He also wants her to pay half of the costs of the investigation and hearing up to $10,000 if she’s found guilty.
The Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board said it will issue a written decision as soon as possible.
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