Brooke Richer started as an educational assistant with the Grande Prairie and District Catholic School District on September 7, 2023.
Twenty-one days later she invited a 16-year-old student to her home for sex. She was 23. He was not assigned to her, but her work crossed over with his and she had helped him.
On July 31, Court of King's Bench Justice Kristan McLeod sentenced her to 34 months. She will serve it at the Edmonton Institution for Women and has been registered as a sex offender.
What she pleaded guilty to
Richer pleaded guilty to sexual interference under section 153 of the Criminal Code, the provision covering a person in a position of trust or authority toward a young person aged 16 to 18.
"Admitting that between September 23rd and 28, 2023, while being in a position of trust or authority towards the victim, she touched him for a sexual purpose," McLeod said at sentencing.
Grande Prairie RCMP originally charged her in 2023 with sexual assault, sexual exploitation and luring a child. Two of the three were dropped when she entered her plea. The plea came late because of a Charter of Rights issue over how evidence was gathered, which had to be resolved first.
The argument the defence made
Richer's lawyer told the court that had she not been an educational assistant at the time, there would have been no crime.
That distinction matters, because her age alone did not make the conduct criminal. Canada's age of consent is 16. Section 153 raises the threshold to 18 when the adult holds a position of trust or authority over the young person, or when the young person is in a relationship of dependency.
Her position at the school is what brought the conduct within section 153. The Crown's argument was that this is the aggravating feature of the case rather than a technicality, because she abused the position and the authority attached to it.
How the sentence was reached
The Crown asked for four years. The defence asked for three. McLeod imposed 34 months, which is two years and ten months.
Aggravating: the communications and the sexualized images exchanged with the student. Court heard the two communicated by text, photos and in person, and that Snapchat messages showed the nature of the contact between them. Richer sent photos of herself in lingerie. The student sent a photo of his genitals. They discussed a further encounter, and Richer asked him to be more discreet at school.
Mitigating: no prior record, a guilty plea, efforts to seek mental health treatment, and the findings of a psychological assessment.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Liam Ennis assessed Richer during the proceedings. He found she had been exposed to significant violence at home and formed unhealthy relationships as she grew up, questioned a previous ADHD diagnosis, and diagnosed borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Dr. Ennis explicitly linked the formation of Ms. Richer's mental health disorders as arising from her early experiences of trauma and unhealthy relationships and further linked her symptoms of her mental health diagnoses with her offending behaviour," McLeod said. "Ms. Richer's other intimate relationships have been nearly uniformly unhealthy, and sometimes degrading and violent."
Ennis concluded the offence was not committed for sexual gratification but out of a misguided attempt to satisfy others in order to feel love and acceptance. He assessed her risk of reoffending as low. That assessment was one factor among several the judge weighed.
McLeod also weighed the notoriety the case has attracted as a collateral consequence, describing an incident in which Richer was shopping with her five-year-old and a member of the public called police to report a crime. Officers attended, questioned her, and laid no charge.
What the victim's family said
The student's mother submitted a victim impact statement describing substantial psychological harm to him and to the family.
The court heard he felt confused and blamed himself. His mother said the fallout for the family was significant, that she grieves the teenage experiences he lost, and that she worries about the long-term effect on him.
McLeod was explicit that the victim carries no blame for the offence or for any of its circumstances, including the failure to use a condom.
"The abuse of the position of trust, Ms. Richer held, is included in the offence, and is why this is an egregious and condemnable crime," McLeod said.
Comparable Canadian cases
Sentences in comparable Canadian cases vary widely, and the variation tends to follow how many victims were involved and how long the offending continued.
In 2024, a former Alberta Child and Family Services youth worker received two years for sexually exploiting a boy in her care, offending that began in 1990 when he was 14 and continued for years. In 2019, an Ontario educational assistant received seven years after a trial on multiple counts involving two students, offending that ran from 2013 to 2015.
Richer's case involved one student, one encounter, a guilty plea and a clean record.
Sources:
Court of King's Bench of Alberta, sentencing of Brooke Richer, July 31, 2026
Criminal Code of Canada, section 153
Grande Prairie RCMP news release, October 2023
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