Johnny Meeko met with school board over students' complaints of sex abuse

Years before Johnny Meeko was charged by police and months before he retired, he met with the Qikiqtani school board to discuss allegations from students that their former school teacher had touched them inappropriately.

A letter addressed to Meeko by the superintendent of Qikiqtani School Operations that discussed the results of a "fact finding" meeting with the Sanikiluaq elementary school teacher on Jan. 8, 2009 was presented in court Monday.

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Meeko, 61, has pleaded not guilty to 32 sex-related charges that allegedly occurred during his decades-long career at Nuiyak Elementary School. Meeko began working at the school in the 1970s and retired at the end of the 2008-2009 school year.

The meeting with Qikiqtani School Operations was held to "ascertain the facts arising from student allegations that you touched them inappropriately seven years previously while they were students in Grade 3," read the letter.

According to the letter, Meeko stated at that meeting it was his practice "to pat primary students on their bottoms to get them to sit down at their desks."

Crown lawyer Amy Porteous questioned Meeko Monday during cross-examination about the meeting, but he told the court he could not remember it and denied touching his students.

He said he has had trouble remembering since being anesthetized during a heart operation in 2009 and again when he had his gall bladder removed in 2010.

'I was intimidated by police'

Porteous also questioned Meeko about why he told police he had touched students inappropriately during a statement he made to them following his arrest in 2012. 

"I had to agree with a lot of things because I was intimidated by police," Meeko testified through an interpreter.

In a five-hour recording of talks between Meeko and police in 2012 played over two days in court, the former teacher admitted to touching several of his students inappropriately, and at one point, gave RCMP the name of another student he had molested.

Meeko said the tape played in court was edited and did not show when police shouted at him, threatening jail time if he did not confess to touching the students. 

"I guess I joined in the lies," he said Monday.

Trial to resume in December

Last week, court heard testimony from nine complainants about a range of alleged sexual crimes spanning more than 30 years. 

The trial will resume Dec. 8 when lawyers are scheduled to begin their closing arguments.

Meeko has been out on bail living in Iqaluit since July 2013.