The Crown is seeking a multi-year prison sentence for a former North Vancouver teacher who committed sexual offences against several of his male students, most of whom were in Grade 6 around 40 years ago.
In North Vancouver Provincial Court on Wednesday, Crown counsel Eleasha Sabourin said Brian Melicke Moore, 85, should spend eight years in federal prison for his crimes.
Moore was a popular teacher at Upper Lynn Elementary from 1970 to 1982. But in 2022, North Vancouver RCMP arrested him following an investigation to a series of incidents, which mostly involved former male students.
After Crown swore charges against Moore in February 2023, a lengthy trial came to its conclusion in April 2025, when he was convicted of nine counts of indecent assault.
During trial, common themes emerged. On multiple occasions, Moore would invite the boys on extra-curricular outings like water skiing, camping and alpine skiing trips. There, Moore would encourage the boys to be naked and eventually escalating to sexual contact, touching the boys’ genitals or having them touch his, the court heard.
In 1982, one of the victim’s parents alerted the school’s principal, who confronted Moore. He resigned but the matter wasn’t reported to police. Then in 1988, more allegations were brought forward to the school and RCMP. At the time, Moore and his lawyer were told the Crown would not be going ahead with charges, but that could change if more information came to light.
After his judgment in April, Moore attempted to have his convictions dropped, arguing that his Charter rights had been violated because the threat of charges had hung over his head for so many years. But the judge rejected that, and the convictions remained.
Former teacher abused position of trust, Crown says
When Sabourin presented her submissions for sentencing on Wednesday, several victim impact statements were read aloud, including from Dennis Cooper, one of Moore’s former students who had a publication ban on his name lifted.
As an 11-year-old child, he said he trusted Moore, as did Cooper’s family. He described Moore as a “surrogate father figure.” Now Cooper said he suffers from PTSD, depression, anxiety disorder, as well as issues with avoidance and intimacy.
“I remain fearful and emotionally fragile,” he said.
Advocating for Moore to serve real time in jail, Sabourin said he treated his victims as objects and ignored their human dignity. She argued that Moore took advantage of his position as a figure of trust – a teacher and caregiver on outings. There was also a pattern of grooming in which Moore would normalize nudity in settings associated with fun activities, and that he increased physical contact over time, Sabourin said.
“There can be no doubt his conduct was planned and practised. It was the same pattern over and over again,” she said.
The boys Moore preyed on were also at a vulnerable age, around 10 or 11 years old, when they were prepubescent and beginning their lives as sexual beings, she said.
Defence lawyer Mark Rowan submitted his client should face a sentence of two years in jail and three years’ probation.
He argued that Moore is in very poor physical health and is a low risk to reoffend.
“He poses absolutely no threat to anybody,” Rowan said. “He’s very frail.”
Rowan noted that Moore has heart disease and only one kidney that functions poorly. He’s also battled several types of cancer.
Rowan also argued that prison is not a suitable place for death, as senior inmates face much harsher conditions than younger prisoners.
The defence didn’t finish its submissions before the end of day Wednesday. Dates for that to wrap up are being sought before the end of August, when the judge is scheduled to hand down his sentence.
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