A former Abbotsford vice-principal who was sentenced in June to 20 months in prison for two child porn offences has received a lifetime ban on teaching.
The province’s Teacher Regulation Branch released its decision Tuesday (Oct. 18), saying that Mike Haire’s conduct “was at the serious end of the spectrum.”
“Haire acted unethically and failed to maintain the integrity of the teaching profession by violating laws that protect minors from sexual exploitation,” the decision reads.
The ruling prohibits Haire from ever re-applying for his teaching certificate or being an administrator at a public or independent school from kindergarten to Grade 12.
Haire, 41, first received his teaching certificate in January 2007 and was suspended Sept. 13, 2018 from his role as vice-principal at W. A. Fraser middle school in Abbotsford.
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This was the day that police executed a search warrant at Haire’s residence and seized several electronic devices related to an investigation into child porn offences.
Haire then resigned from the school district on Sept. 21, 2018.
Police announced seven days later that he had been charged with making child porn available and possessing child porn.
Evidence presented at Haire’s trial indicated that the investigation began after a six-second video file containing child sexual abuse was uploaded from a cellphone to Instagram.
The customer connected to the IP address was confirmed to be Haire.
RELATED: Crown says former Abbotsford vice-principal should get up to 3 years for child porn
RELATED: 20 months in prison for Abbotsford vice-principal convicted of child porn offences
The execution of the search warrant resulted in the seizure of 26 electronic devices. Hundreds of images and videos constituting child sexual abuse were found on six of the devices or hardware seized, the court was told.
Crown lawyer Dorothy Tsui told the court that investigators found on the devices a “large and substantial collection” of images depicting child sexual abuse.
She said the “vast majority” of the material was of boys from the ages of five to 12.
Tsui said the images showed the children nude or partially nude and posed in a sexual manner alone or with other boys.
She said investigators also obtained Haire’s chat logs that included him communicating with under-age kids and requesting or exchanging images of child sexual abuse.
Haire’s jail sentence, issued on June 9, will be followed by three years’ probation.
Haire was first a teacher at Clayburn middle school from 2007 to 2015 in Abbotsford and then vice-principal at W. A. Fraser middle school.
vhopes@abbynews.com
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