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A retired North Vancouver teacher in his 80s who was recently charged with 12 sexual offences against boys is also facing a proposed class-action civil lawsuit filed by one of his former students on behalf of potential victims.
North Vancouver RCMP announced last week that criminal charges were laid Feb. 15 against Brian Melicke Moore, 83, who taught at Upper Lynn Elementary in North Vancouver in the 1970s and 1980s.
The charges involve allegations of sexual offences against 11 people, who were 11- and 12-year-old boys at the time.
Moore taught Grade 6 at the North Vancouver school between 1970 and 1982.
The civil lawsuit was filed in August in B.C. Supreme Court against Moore and the North Vancouver School District, around the same time the RCMP first went public with their investigation of the former teacher.
In the lawsuit, the North Vancouver man who was a former student of Moore’s says he was abused at the hands of his former Grade 6 teacher in incidents that he alleges often took place during outdoor school trips, including camping, water skiing and skiing trips.
During a swimming excursion at Simon Fraser University, Moore instructed students to shower naked with him, the former student alleges in the lawsuit.
Moore also instructed students to swim naked during camping trips, slept in tents with his students and climbed into his students’ sleeping bags naked, documents filed in the civil lawsuit allege.
During one overnight ski trip, the teacher also demonstrated masturbation on himself, the lawsuit alleges. He also provided driving lessons in his personal vehicle where students were instructed to sit on his lap, according to documents filed in the civil lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Moore groomed his victims by taking them to unfamiliar environments “where they were less familiar with what is appropriate” and fostered inappropriate relationships with students both inside and outside of school.
The lawsuit also alleges Moore threatened students with reprisal if they reported him.
The lawsuit also names the North Vancouver School District, alleging teachers and administrators at Upper Lynn Elementary saw behaviour that should have given them cause for concern. The school district also failed to adequately investigate reports received from students, parents and teachers, the lawsuit alleges.
In doing so, the school district failed to take reasonable steps to protect students when they were vulnerable minors and abandoned its “duty of care” to them, the lawsuit alleges.
None of the allegations in either the criminal or civil cases have been proven in court and Moore has not entered a plea to the criminal charges.
In a statement provided to the North Shore News, the school district said it “recognizes teachers and staff who work with students are in a position of great trust” and acknowledged “a criminal charge of this nature is appropriately unsettling.”
The school district added Moore’s employee file included no record of misconduct as an employee. “As his employment with the school district ended over 40 years ago, this situation is considered a matter for the RCMP,” the statement read.
The school district added it had “co-operated fully with the RCMP throughout their investigation.”
Moore was charged Feb. 15 with 10 counts of indecent assault on a male, one count of sexual touching of a child under 14 and one count of sexual assault.
