PSB says it connected Craswell incidents in P.E.I. schools only after his 1st arrest
Former substitute was moved to high schools to align with his training, not due to complaint, director says
WARNING: This story contains descriptions of child sex abuse and other content that may be disturbing to readers.
The director of P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch says the organization connected two classroom incidents involving Matthew Alan Craswell only after he was arrested on unrelated child pornography charges last summer.
Tracy Beaulieu sat down with CBC News for an interview Tuesday for the first time since Craswell pleaded guilty last week to sexual touching at Stratford's Glen Stewart Primary, as well as child pornography offences.
"Once we found out about the charges that were in place for Mr. Craswell, we went and looked into our records to see, was there anything that we had? And it did unfold that there was an investigation done in April [2024]," Beaulieu told CBC News.
"At that moment in time, we thought: 'We need to notify police.'"
Craswell, 40, originally faced child pornography charges related to possession and distribution after he used the messaging app Kik to send images depicting child sex abuse that were flagged by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States.
CBC News reached out to the PSB at that time to confirm that the Matthew Craswell who was charged was the same one who was referring to himself online as a P.E.I. substitute teacher.
The charges related to the Glen Stewart incident were laid in the following days.
"There was another incident that came up and we realized we need a centralized tracking system," Beaulieu said.
"If the information would have been in a centralized location, we might have identified trends in that and looked at things a little bit differently."
Both investigations ruled out sexual motive
The first report known to CBC News involving Craswell's behaviour was at a school in June 2023.
Little is known about this event, but sources told CBC News it happened at a Charlottetown-area elementary school.
Beaulieu said the incident was investigated, but she would not share details for privacy reasons.
"We had not had any information at that point in time through the investigation that happened to suggest that there was malicious intent by Matthew Craswell," Beaulieu said. "There would have been an investigation that involved statements from parents, and statements from students and staff, and that was the decision that was made at the time.
"However, now we hear quite a different story and that's what's really difficult."
Court records show the details of that incident came to light for investigators last fall, after Craswell's devices had been seized from his Cornwall home and his online activity was anaylzed.
If anybody would have suspected that he had a criminal intent in mind... he would have been done.— Tracy Beaulieu, Public Schools Branch director
Investigators learned that Craswell had boasted about sexually touching three girls while teaching them.
Police contacted the girls' families after that, but the parents ultimately decided not to allow their children to move forward with police interviews, so the investigation did not continue and Craswell was never charged over those allegations.
The only school incident for which Craswell faced charges was at Glen Stewart the next year.
After that incident, a parent went to the school's principal at the time, and that person consulted with the PSB.
In neither case were police or Child Protection Services officials contacted.
That's despite a section of P.E.I.'s Child Sex Abuse Protocol that reads: "The Child Protection Act requires mandatory reporting of suspected cases of child sexual abuse to the director of child protection or a peace officer and applies to everyone including school/program personnel.
"The obligation to report is unrestricted by any pre-condition that the complaint be first reported within the respective departments, services or agencies, even if the perpetrator is alleged to be an employee of that institution, service or agency."
Beaulieu said the PSB did its own investigations into both cases and found no evidence to suggest the incidents, in which Craswell touched students on their stomach and legs, were sexual in nature.
"Those decisions would have been made based on the statement of facts at the time about whether there was an intent and harm directed at students," Beaulieu said. "From that, I have been informed there was no intent or malicious intent behind it. And that's why there would not have been a call."
Beaulieu told CBC News it is standard for schools to conduct their own investigations with assistance from the Public Schools Branch's human resources or student services teams.
"People won't allow predatory behaviour if they suspect that it's there," she said.
Craswell was moved to high schools
Another detail that came out in court was that after the April 2024 internal investigation, Craswell taught only older children going forward.
Beaulieu said that was because of Craswell's own background and experience, and it was unconnected to the reported incident and investigation done at Glen Stewart.
"It was deemed that he's high-school trained, and placements of people tend to be in the areas that they are formally trained," Beaulieu said.
"If anybody would have suspected that he had a criminal intent in mind, he wouldn't have been placed anywhere in our system. Not high school. Not anywhere. He would have been done… RCMP would have been notified."
When asked about the authority the PSB has to conduct investigations instead of allowing trained police investigators to take over, Beaulieu said: "That's where we have engaged with working with child protective services."
She added: "We want to talk with police and really outline all of those factors so that we ensure that the people that are discussing these matters and investigating these matters have the appropriate training and understanding."
Beaulieu said the PSB has already begun those conversations with both child protection and police services.
"We can ensure going forward that we are all solid making those decisions," she said.
The director said other changes have already been made, with officials not waiting for Craswell's guilty pleas last week.
According to Beaulieu, the PSB adopted the recently announced centralized tracking system for staff complaints over the last school year.
All school staff have also participated in the newly required Commit to Kids training program from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
Beaulieu said the PSB will do whatever it takes to regain the trust of Island families, and it's open to other suggestions.
When asked about accountability in the Public Schools Branch, Beaulieu said there is only one person accountable for what happened.
"It's Matthew Craswell," she said. "What we need to do as a system is make sure that we are doing everything we can to ensure that someone like a Matthew Craswell doesn't get through those gaps and cracks anymore."
Work timeline, vulnerable sector check questions remain
Beaulieu also raised concerns about the vulnerable-sector checks conducted by RCMP for the PSB, which she says did not reveal Craswell's 2018 voyeurism allegation from South Korea.
She said they learned of that open extradition request only last week, which makes her question the faith many people had in the vulnerable-sector check process.
"It's important for all organizations that service children and youth to be aware of those things as well and to really ensure that all of their systems in place are done so ... we can prevent these child predators from having access to children and youth in our province," she said.
The PSB has said Craswell passed his most recent check in December of 2023, which allowed him to continue to work in Island schools. That would have been after the June 2023 incident, but before the April 2024 incident.
While an agreed statement of facts admitted in court said Craswell "commenced employment" with the PSB in approximately 2023, CBC News has received reports that he was substituting in P.E.I. before 2023, as early as the decade prior.
The PSB has not yet laid out the timeline of Craswell's employment, so it remains unclear when he would have passed his first vulnerable sector check and how many he has passed since.
"I cannot comment on the Craswell matter while it is still before the court. Results of vulnerable-sector checks are protected under the Privacy Act," Cpl. Gavin Moore said in an email to CBC News.
Documents filed in court showed that in the summer of 2024, while investigating Craswell's sending of child-abuse images on Kik, RCMP were able to use the Police Recording and Operations System (PROS) to find out about the South Korean allegation.
"PROS also indicated that the accused resided at this [Cornwall residence], and that the accused had been the subject of an extradition request from South Korea in relation to allegations that he had committed a voyeurism offence when residing there in September of 2018," the agreed facts document reads.
"No action was taken by Canadian government officials in relation to that matter."
There are resources and supports available to anyone who has experienced sexual violence:
- Victim Services P.E.I. / Queens and Kings County: 902-368-4582; Prince County: 902-888-8218
- Rise P.E.I. / Phone or text: 902-218-6143
- P.E.I. Rape and Sexual Assault Centre / Call: 902-368-8055 or 1-888-368-8055
- Here is a list of sexual assault centres, crisis lines and support services elsewhere in Canada.
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