A former grade 9 Alberta teacher has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for sexually abusing one of her students.
Today Catherine Valiquette, 31, pleaded guilty to sexual interference . According to a statement, she was a grade nine teacher at Gramina School in Parkland County when she began a sexual relationship with a 15-year old student in April of 2023.
She added the student on Snapchat and they began to talk everyday. The chats started to become increasingly sexual and later led to a physical relationship outside of school. The victim’s sibling became aware of the relationship and notified the parents, who later confiscated the phone.
Despite having no phone, they found a way to communicate through Google Docs and developed codes. They began to meet up and she would drive them to a rural area, where they would engage in sexual activities. Documents stated that a condom was not used all the time and they would use baby wipes to clean up, then dispose of them at the scene. Some of the wipes were recovered by police.
The victim and Valiquette stopped communicating in June of 2023 and the boy told his parents about what had been going on, leading to them reporting the abuse to the RCMP and the school.
During the investigation police found a sweater that belong to the victim in her possession. Initially she told them the two had bonded but had not engaged sexually.
During the sentencing today, she addressed the court in person and apologized. She has not worked as a teacher since she was charged in August 2023.
