Private school employee faces sex charges
Allegedly had contact with teenage girl
Students and teachers at a prestigious private school in Rigaud are reeling after learning a staff member may have had a six-month relationship with an underage student that ended last March.
Last Friday, Rigaud resident Mathieu Chamberland, 40, was charged in the Valleyfield courthouse with sexual contact with a girl under the age of consent, inciting sexual contact with someone who is underage and luring.
He is an educator and support staff member at Collège Bourget, 70 kilometres west of Montreal, near the Ontario border. Chamberland is also married to an administrator at the school.
Although the relationship with the student was apparently consensual, the legal age of consent in Quebec is 16. The student was 15 during the time the relationship is alleged to have occurred.
The school’s general manager, Jean-Marc St-Jacques, explained the girl told a friend about the relationship during the holiday period, and that the friend in turn told an adult. When the school found out last week, it called police and the department of youth protection. Chamberland was arrested last Thursday.
St-Jacques said the news about Chamberland spread like wildfire on Facebook among students on Monday, so staff and councillors at the school held several sessions with students to explain what happened. He said the school already has instruction about sexual education and intimidation as part of its curriculum, but in light of the incident, he’s wondering whether that instruction needs to be re-evaluated.
“This is why we’re asking if our training is adequate,” St-Jacques said. “How can it be that an adult and a young girl had something between them and nobody saw it? How can we avoid this?
“We want students to know, if they see something, they have to get involved to help the child.”
The school, which is both an elementary and high school, suspended Chamberland for the duration of the court proceedings.
Chamberland was released from jail last Friday and ordered not to be employed in any job where he is an authority figure over underage children. He is also forbidden to use a computer or to access the Internet.
He is the second staff member at Collège Bourget to be arrested for sexual impropriety toward minors over the past 12 months. Last July, former teacher Jean-Guy Corbeil, 76, who taught at the school for two years, was charged with possessing and accessing child pornography. Corbeil’s arrest came two weeks after the school decided not to renew his teaching contract. He taught Grade 11 courses in philosophy and advanced French. At the time of his arrest, the school’s administration said it was not aware of the allegations.
He is scheduled to appear in court to answer to the charges next Monday at the Montreal courthouse.
Corbeil was charged with accessing child pornography between Jan. 1, 2005 and July 11, 2012. He was also charged with having child pornography in his possession between July 8 and July 11, 2012.
Collège Bourget, which was established in 1850, has 1,100 day students and 250 boarders. Many students come from French-speaking Africa and Latin America.