CBC Podcast Identifier

For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca.

This is a CBC Podcast.

I guess I'm just shocked at how brazen everything was and how... Anne-Marie has now heard all these stories a few times. She's come to know Jeannie, Jackie, and Rita, but every new detail makes her more sad, disgusted.

And Jackie Short wrote it all in her diaries. Jackie sees, maybe better than anyone, the insidious nature of what went on and how it's wrongly interpreted.

And she says she witnessed that pattern repeat.

I'm not naming the three other girls Jackie mentions.

These women did not consent to be part of the story, but I have verified there was similar inappropriate sexual behavior with them and also with others. Jeannie McKay is so glad Jackie has a record of these indiscretions.

Jeannie didn't feel free to keep diaries, but Jackie didn't need to keep it secret.

When Jeannie went to the Ontario College of Teachers to report Walker, her friend's diaries became evidence. The college found him guilty of professional misconduct in 2001. Of course, that's when the teacher said what happened with Jeannie was a blip.

She wrote in cursive, tidy, looping letters with little circles instead of dots at the end of sentences.

Jackie isn't sure why she held on to these journals for decades.

We've heard Jackie describe the teacher's kisses, hugs and come-ons. But she says the sexual encounters with her teacher didn't go further than that.

A teacher propositioning a kid is also against the law now. That's according to Canada's criminal code. There are laws against sexual assault, interference, and exploitation. And buying students alcohol, dinner, special gifts, talking to kids about sex and their boyfriends would all be considered grooming behavior now.

These kinds of warnings are now featured in new training modules for teachers and coaches in some jurisdictions. But was it not at least considered inappropriate, if not plain wrong back then? It seems 16 year old Jackie certainly thought it was. She says so in her diary.

Let's go back to that passage she wrote in March 1980. I mentioned it earlier. The teacher invited her to accompany him to an event. At first, she's flattered.

And in another passage, she and other students talked about what was going on with Rita.

So kids knew something was wrong. Where were the adults? In high school, after two years of this kind of drama, Jackie didn't care if he did lose his job. In the spring of 1982, the Markham District High School band was on another trip, this time in Germany. Jackie decided to do more than tell her diary.

The band was on a boat tour on the Elbe River.

At that time, the river still separated East and West Germany. But all Jackie cared about was what she was witnessing between her friends and the music teacher. An administrator from her school was a chaperone on the trip.

She blurted it all out.

She stopped so the administrator could react.

Her daily passages describe unedited teenage experiences and her real-time perceptions.

I try phoning and emailing the former administrator. No luck. I even send him a letter by post. No response so far. And my questions and freedom of information requests to the school board have provided no answers. The board's response on official letterhead says no records exist. But we do know the music teacher left Markham High five years later.

Maybe, maybe we'll get answers. Why did he leave Markham High five years after Jackie Short blew the whistle? And why did he move schools four more times after that? Jeannie McKay has other concerns.

But Jeannie's never been prouder of her bestie. Jackie did the right thing when she was just a teen.

In the spring of 2022, I reached out to Doug Walker himself. I was about to produce an investigative series for CBC. My stories focused on what happened to Anne-Marie Robinson and Jeannie McKay in high school. They hoped going public with me would prompt others to come forward. Walker responded to my inquiry.

I get Anne-Marie and Jeannie on a video call and I fill them in about what their former teacher said.

So I sent him a series of questions, various allegations from the women, starting with the night in Belleville in 1977 when Anne-Marie says she was raped. I ask about the many sexual encounters with both Anne-Marie and Jeannie in cars, hotel rooms, a music room closet. I ask him about propositioning and kissing Jackie. I ask about Rita and two other girls at Markham High.

Walker asked me not to publish his responses. But generally speaking, he insisted the encounters were consensual. He contested some details and he didn't answer all my questions. There is one part he said I could publish. An apology. Unquote. Unquote.

Jackie also witnessed something going on between her friend Rita and the teacher, and her friend Jeannie. And there were also two others. One had brown hair, the other was a blonde. And then she worried about her sister, who would start music soon.

She means Anne-Marie. And there is something that sister wants from the teacher. Anne-Marie brushes the hair from her eyes.

She's out of the shadows. Her sister is with her. She knows exactly what the teacher can do for all of them.

The deputy minister is back. Walker doesn't provide a list, but maybe he doesn't need to. My initial stories about Anne-Marie and Jeannie go to air and online in the spring of 2022.

The story is seen and heard across Canada.

The response is immediate. I hear from former students, now men and women. And I'm not the only one getting feedback. I check in with Jeannie and Anne-Marie.

I read them some of the emails I received.

And then Jeannie reads us some Facebook posts from a group she's part of.

It was a dilemma for this teen. She really liked her teacher. But was it right?

I'm referring to the alleged punch at Port Credit Secondary School. It's a story Anne-Marie has repeated since I met her. Walker told her the father of a music student hit him. The father alleged something had gone on between his daughter and the teacher. It happened in Walker's first year of teaching. But we don't even know if this story is true.

Another woman who alleges she was abused as a teen.

Anne-Marie was right. There are other women out there, others they can help. This new survivor also went to Markham High where Jeannie, Jackie and Rita went. Her experience happened five years after Jackie told the administrator.

The email reads, I am the reason Doug Walker was transferred from MDHS in 1987. I do not want my name published anywhere now. However, despite my lifelong shame about this incident, I would be happy to talk further to anyone involved in this case. Best regards. Next time on The Banned Teacher.

survivors from across the country meet up for the first time and newly found victims tell us their stories. He said to me, you know, it wouldn't take much for me to lose control. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that I'm 39 years old and your teacher.

The band teacher is investigated, reported, written, and hosted by me, Julie Ireton. Alison Cook is the story and script editor, producer, sound designer, and mixer. Felice Chin is our executive producer and story editor. Eve Saint-Laurent is our legal advisor. Thank you to Maggie for lending your voice for this episode.

Jennifer Chen, Amanda Pfeffer, and Jen White provided valuable production advice. Special thanks to the folks at CBC Podcasts for their support. And the managing editor of CBC Ottawa is Drake Fenton. If you want to binge the whole series, subscribe to CBC True Crime Premium on Apple Podcasts. Just click on the link in the show description or binge listen for free by logging in to CBC Listen.

If you like this podcast, I have another original investigation that might interest you. That's the band played on season one. All episodes are available right now, wherever you get your podcasts. If you or someone you know has been sexually abused, community resources can help. Reach out to a trusted person, sexual assault center, or rape crisis center in your area.

Some of the stuff he says really scares me, though. Because Jackie Short figured it was already happening with the others. Jackie is now in her late 50s.

The band teacher. I'm Julie Ireton. This is season two of The Band Played On. A music teacher taught in seven different schools. He kissed, hugged, dated and had sex with teen students. Relationships he normalized but kept secret.

Anne-Marie Robinson is braced for this next step of her journey. Episode 6, The Diaries. Moments after Anne-Marie and I found Jeannie McKay, Jeannie told her husband. Then she called her longtime friend, Jackie Short. The next day, Jackie sent me a note.

Soon after I get her note, we speak.

I'm getting a bit of help to start this episode. Hi. This is my daughter. She knows all about my work, all about the rare times when adults cross the line with kids, issues around boundaries, consent. I rattle on a bit about it.

Jackie and Jeannie were friends in high school, but not the kind who share their deepest, darkest secrets. Jeannie didn't share those with anyone. In fact, she didn't get too close with anyone at Markham High, except her music teacher.

The two women are close now, and they have been for many years. They're both in their late 50s. Jackie's long dangling earrings peak below her short ginger hair. From her first email, I can tell Jackie is a firecracker. Quick wit, no filter, and still angry as hell.

Oh yeah, Jacqueline Short is also a professional opera singer, a soprano. This is her singing in The Rake's Progress by Stravinsky. The CBC recorded it for Saturday afternoon at the opera several years ago. She's performed internationally. She also teaches at Western University in London, Ontario. Not surprisingly, she was a favourite of the music teacher.

Like Anne-Marie Robinson, Jackie Short chose the French horn.

She met the music teacher in grade 10. He started working at her school in January 1979, right after he left Anne-Marie's school.

Jeannie and Anne-Marie have both mentioned this already. Jackie remembers he got close to girls.

This kid will be 16 later this year. That's the same age as Anne-Marie Robinson, Jeannie McKay, and Jackie Short. when they first had encounters with their music teacher. Jackie Short. We haven't met her yet, but we will soon. She's another band member, Jeannie's friend. Jackie kept a diary throughout high school, and she still has them all these years later.

I've seen that photo and others of kids and the music teacher at tables covered in wine glasses and beer bottles, raising a toast to the camera, big smiles.

She says while he acted like a kid, he also let them know who was in charge.

Jackie Short's diaries are a window into what was happening and how she was feeling.

It's embarrassing for her now, but Jackie's words signal the conflict inside a maturing mind.

She has sent me pages and pages. And at first glance, it's cute.

What a guy! But Jackie decided not to go with him after all. We'll hear more about that in a bit. Instead, he took another girl, Rita. Jackie had noticed something was going on with her even before the trip.

Rita was a year older and a year ahead of Jeannie and Jackie at Markham District High School.

For decades after high school graduation, Rita had no contact with Jeannie or Jackie, and she moved far away from Markham. I live in British Columbia. Rita lives in B.C. with her husband. She works in the long-term care sector, and she still sees Jeannie from time to time. She's also in B.C. Rita is private, shy. Her old friends remember a smart, pretty girl, a bit of a wallflower.

This is where my daughter is going to help me out, reading those entries.

She now wears a pageboy haircut and glasses. Rita's asked me to only use her first name. What happened between her and the music teacher is still painful. It took Rita several months to respond to my invitation to chat. More time passed before she decided to do an interview. I realize these are not easy decisions.

Rita first met the teacher in 1979, a year before that van trip to the UK where there were public displays of affection. It had all started when Rita was 16.

In our timeline, Rita comes after Anne-Marie and before Jeannie, at the same school as Jeannie. All three women lost their virginity to their teacher. The women now realize he was seeing both Rita and Jeannie at the same time.

Rita says he drove a wedge between her and Jeannie.

Anne-Marie Robinson recognizes the tactics all too well.

In the late 1970s and early 80s, the music teacher was having sexual encounters with teens, Anne-Marie, Rita, Jeannie, and others. But he was also living with a woman, an adult. And she was a teacher.

And then there was a wedding. Jeannie McKay was there.

16-year-old Jackie Short wrote down just about everything that happened at school. She was in the Markham District High School band. It's in the greater Toronto area. Same school, same band as Jeannie. Same teacher.

at the music teacher's wedding. It was at his modest one-and-a-half-story home in Toronto. Jackie Short was there too.

For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca.

This is a CBC Podcast.