More than just slipping through the cracks

There are cases that fall through the cracks in any bureaucracy. We hear about them in health care, in policing, in other parts of the justice system, in municipal government — basically, anywhere where many hands manage people navigating many different and often unique situations.

But when those cracks endanger impressionable children and young adults in an environment where we should have every expectation of their safety — in our schools — the issue has to be addressed, quickly.

The Free Press has been reporting on the case of Braeden Martens, who was a teacher at Steinbach Regional Secondary School. He taught in that school’s vocational program and served as a coach for the school’s football teams, and for the province’s elite under-18 team.

At least, he taught and coached until allegations of luring and invitation to sexual touching involving two teenage girls surfaced last January.

In the eyes of the provincial department of education, however, Martens didn’t exist.

He didn’t hold a teaching certificate or a limited teaching permit at the time of his arrest. In other words, he didn’t have the certification needed to even be working as a teacher.

Education Minister Tracy Schmidt was shocked: “As a Manitoban, as a parent, as a mom, I have serious questions about how there could be someone teaching here in Manitoba that is completely off the radar.”

Martens was being paid as a teacher by the Hanover School Division — and he was a member of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society. He coached football at the provincial level, but the Manitoba High School Athletics Association had no record of him acting as a coach, under any spelling of his name. The MHSAA doesn’t vet coaches: schools are expected to vet their own staff.

The province does have a new oversight system for teachers, one that promised more transparency in dealing with teachers, complaints and disciplinary records. It is overseen by an independent commissioner, Bobbi Taillefer — but this isn’t a case the oversight system is built to handle.

Why not? Because, as Taillefer pointed out in an email to the Free Press, “Under the legislation, the commissioner does not have legislative authority to investigate a report or complain involving anyone other than a certified teacher or school clinician.”

It seems like a bizarre situation: an oversight system to ensure teachers can’t escape their past discipline records can’t actually get involved in a case where part of the problem is that they didn’t have the proper certification to even be teaching.

The RCMP laid charges in April 2025 — Martens is innocent until proven guilty. The charges, directly related to his role as a teacher, outline that the invitation to sexual touching occurred between Dec. 1, 2024 and Jan. 10, 2025, while the luring complaint occurred between Sept. 1, 2023 and Jan. 10, 2025.

The question now is what the provincial government is going to do to ensure that this major issue with the teacher certification is properly dealt with: the education minister says, “We’re going to ask the hard questions, we’re going to get the answers and we’re going to address this issue, for sure.”

Well, ask the hard questions now.

Get the answers now.

Address the issue now.

All teachers should be fully under the oversight of provincial regulatory authorities. Every school district should ensure that each and every one of their teaching staff have full and appropriate certification, and their certification should be properly managed. The Manitoba Teachers’ Society should require its members to be certified teachers as well.

Anything less is just not good enough.