Lawyer for teacher on trial for sexual relationship with recent graduate claims ‘no exploitation’

A former Calgary high school teacher who had sex with a 17-year-old former student just weeks after she graduated had no trust or authority over her, the defence argued Wednesday.

Jason Selby, 41, who taught at Western Canada High School, is accused of sexual exploitation. A sexual assault charge was dropped by the Crown midway through the trial.

In Canada, the age of consent is 16. However, sexual exploitation may apply if the accused was in a position of trust or authority over the alleged victim.

The only issue in the trial is whether Selby remained in that position once the teen received her diploma.

“There is no exploitation, no control or influence, no relationship of trust, no imbalance of power,” Selby’s lawyer, Alain Hepner, said in his closing argument Wednesday.

The court heard evidence that Selby, who was 33 at the time, taught the girl in the first, but not the second, semester of her 12th grade year, which ran from 2017 to 2018.

Hepner pointed out that in 2018, Selby “was not her teacher; he was not involved in her classes.”

A publication ban protects the young woman’s identity.

‘A mutual attraction’

During the trial, which began a year ago, the court heard evidence that the girl and Selby began texting in 2018, when she was still at Western University.

The girl testified that she and Selby had sex at his home in June of that year, about two weeks after she graduated.

Text messages between the two show “two people chatting … having equal interest in each other,” Hepner said.

“This girl was not a wallflower, there was a mutual attraction… I see no control or influence by Mr Selby over (the teenager).”

‘Keeping secrets’

But prosecutor Pam McCluskey argued for a conviction, telling Judge Sean Dunnigan that Selby had “a position of trust” over the recent graduate.

“The fact that she had graduated did not change her status as a juvenile or the defendant’s status as a person in a position of trust or authority over her,” McCluskey said.

McCluskey also pointed to the prosecutor’s statement that Selby told the teen he had to lie about their relationship to protect his job.

“He told her, ‘You can’t tell anyone you’re here’… the deception, the keeping of secrets are major factors,” McCluskey said.

The prosecutor will conclude her pleas on Friday.

The complainant reported her former teacher to police in 2021 after she suspected Selby was having a sexual relationship with another teenager.

By then, she said, she realized how young she was when her own relationship with the teacher began.