Former teacher-on-call in Yukon facing child porn, weapons charges identified

CBC News has confirmed the name of a former teacher-on-call in the Yukon who's been charged with possession of child pornography.

According to court documents, police arrested and charged Andrew Cook, 37, on Christmas Eve but released him on a number of conditions. However, formal court documents were not sworn until Jan. 2.

The court documents allege Cook possessed child pornography between Aug. 24, 2018, and Oct. 10, 2023. He's also charged with possession of a prohibited device on Dec. 24, 2023, which the documents allege was a "full loaded firearm magazine containing 21 live rounds" for which Cook did not have a licence.

The Yukon government and Yukon RCMP would not confirm to CBC News that Cook was the subject of a statement issued by the Yukon education minister Thursday, which said a teacher-on-call who had worked at 10 Whitehorse-area schools over the past five years had been charged with possession of child pornography.

However, multiple sources with knowledge of the situation have separately confirmed to CBC News that Cook is, in fact, the person mentioned in the statement.

Cook is subject to a number of release conditions, including not having access to the internet or any device capable of accessing the internet, and not attending any location where people under the age of 18 are likely to be, including schools, public parks, playgrounds and community centres. He is also prohibited from having any contact with anyone under the age of 18, unless under the supervision of someone approved by his bail supervisor.

Cook's first court appearance is scheduled for late February.

Cook's LinkedIn profile indicates that he's held several positions with the Yukon government since 2016, including as a corporate policy and procedures analyst and a human resources consultant with the executive council office. However, his employee contact page on the government's website no longer appears to exist.

He has not yet responded to CBC News' requests for comment.

Charge does not involve Yukon children, minister says

Meantime, Yukon's education minister has pledged more support for Whitehorse schools in the wake of the criminal charge against the former on-call teacher.

In an interview with CBC News on Friday morning, Minister Jeanie McLean said the accused — who she did not identify — hasn't worked as an on-call teacher since October when they were removed from the on-call list after the allegations surfaced.

The charge came after RCMP executed a search warrant last month, the minister said.

No further details have been provided, but McLean said "my understanding is this does not involve children, at this point, in the Yukon."

"I really recognize, of course, that this is going to have a really emotional response for a lot of folks," she said. "The RCMP has advised us that the charges are not related to individuals."

"There's no information information right now to suggest involvement of Yukon students in these offences."

CBC News asked RCMP for information about the charges and the identity of the accused. In an emailed response, police would only a confirm that they have laid "a charge" against someone, but did not elaborate.

"Police will not be providing further details at this time as doing so may have a prejudicial impact on the investigation," the statement reads.

McLean said the accused did pass vulnerable sector criminal record checks, which are conducted every two years.

The Department of Education said the accused worked at the following schools between 2018 and 2023:

• F.H. Collins Secondary School, 2019 to the current school year.

• Individual Learning Centre, 2018/19 and 2020/21.

• Golden Horn Elementary, 2018 to 2021.

• Christ the King Elementary, 2019/2020.

• Porter Creek Secondary, 2019 to 2021.

• École Émilie Tremblay, 2020/21.

• Jack Hulland Elementary, 2020/21.

• St. Francis of Assisi Secondary, 2020/21.

• Whitehorse Elementary, 2020 to 2022.

• Holy Family Elementary, 2021/22.

McLean said the department did not release the individual's name as "the RCMP investigation was still in early days and we really don't want to prejudice the investigation or put this person at risk because they have only been charged at this point.

"But we did think that it was very important for parents and school communities to know where the individual worked and when."

She also said extra supports are being provided to the schools.

"We're supporting our administrators and our school councils with information on how to communicate with anyone that requires the information," McLean said. "The Child Youth and Family Treatment Team offers counselling services, outreach services and youth intensive treatment to help school-aged children."

"We'll work closely, of course, with our school community, and we'll continue to cooperate with the RCMP," she said. "We'll work directly with our administrators and continue to provide information as it becomes available to us."