P.E.I. child and youth advocate questions inquiry into PSB’s handling of Craswell case [Video]

Prince Edward Island’s child and youth advocate is raising concerns about an upcoming review of school policies in the wake of a former substitute teacher’s sex crimes case.

The Progressive Conservative government ordered the third-party inquiry of Public Schools Branch policies and procedures spurred by the case of Matthew Alan Craswell. 

Craswell, 40, pleaded guilty last month to one count of sexual interference over the way in which he touched a young female student while teaching at Stratford’s Glen Stewart Primary School during a classroom game in April 2024.

Marvin Bernstein, the province’s independent child and youth advocate, said it’s “lamentable” that officials with the province’s Education Department didn’t reach out to his office directly after the case came to light. 

“A preferable course of action would have been early, proactive and direct communication with the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate by the Department of Education and Early Years and the Public Schools Branch, …