A former B.C. elementary school teacher has been banned from the profession after he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Graham Christopher Bowering was teaching in the North Vancouver School District in February 2021, when Sunshine Coast RCMP executed a search warrant on his home. They’d been tipped off some six months earlier that there was child porn on an electronic device in their jurisdiction.
The detachment’s investigation led them to Bowering’s residence, where they seized images, videos and writing all believed to be be depicting children in an illegal manner. They didn’t arrest Bowering until about two weeks later, however, once the evidence had been reviewed.
During that period, Bowering didn’t inform his school of what was happening and continued to teach his elementary school students.
He was put in cuffs on March 15, 2021, and pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography about a year later on Feb. 2, 2022. Bowering said he’d been accessing the illegal material for almost seven years, from May 2014 until his arrest.
He was sentenced on Jan. 31, 2023 to a 10-month conditional sentence, meaning he could serve it under strict conditions in the community instead of in jail. This was ordered to be followed by two years of probation.
During that period, Bowering is prohibited from being alone with anyone under the age of 16. He has also been added to the National Sex Offender Registry.
He was put on a leave of absence from teaching between his arrest and guilty plea, after which he was fired. On March 5, 2024, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation further ruled Bowering will never be allowed to teach in the province’s Kindergarten to Grade 12 school system again.
He had taught in B.C. since 2006.
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