Jeanie McKay: Where is William Douglas Walker’s Ex-Student Now?

of Jeanie McKay: Where is William Douglas Walker’s Ex-Student Now? Kumari Shreya
June 14, 2023

CBC’s ‘The Banned Teacher’ is a podcast that details the stories shared by the ex-students of William Douglas Walker, a former high school music teacher. The various women featured in the series talk about how Walker allegedly took advantage of them and how the whole experience has continued to impact their lives even after the passage of decades. One of the most prominent voices against Walker in the podcast is Jeanie McKay, whose story and efforts have captured the attention of many. If you are curious as to where she is these days, we have your back!

Who is Jeanie McKay?

Jeanie McKay was a Grade 10 student at Markham District High School when William Douglas Walker joined the institute as the head of the music program in 1979. Almost twice her age, Walker would soon become a huge part of her life given that, according to Jeanie, he was the first person she ever slept with when the two had relations in the back of Walker’s green car when she was 16 years old. “What a hideous human to take advantage, because there I was, a young, hormonal kid,” she exclaimed.

As it turns out, Jeanie had apparently developed a habit of carving a notch into a desk in her bedroom every time she and Walker had intercourse, the total count coming out to be 56. Through his position as an assistant conductor and a warrant officer for the Royal Regiment of Canada Band, AKA The Royals, Walker inducted Jeanie into the group. Thinking back to that time, she recalled an incident in 1979 involving female students who were part of the military music group and had come together to say goodbye to their teacher in the parking lot of Fort York Armory.

“He actually leaned down and gave us all goodnight kisses with tongue. Our teacher, the guy that had brought us down to attend this really exciting, grown-up practice,” Jeanie shared. She also pursued a career in the music industry as an educator and soon became a high school music teacher herself. However, being in the same position that Walker once apparently gave her a whole new perspective regarding the things that happened during ehr won high school years. “The first day I raised my baton, and I saw him,” she confessed.

Jeanie added, “My brain instantly flashed onto the horror of it all. I, all of a sudden, had all the power in the room.” Around the year 1997, Jeanie was at Los Angeles International Airport and was about to board a touring bus for a trip organized by Disney for music teachers. “I got on the bus, and I froze,” she recalled McKay, referring to her meeting with Walker after almost 15 years. “There he was.” Seeing her former teacher apparently prompted Jeanie to rush to the back, where she sat down and was shaking.

When a tour guide came to check on her, Jeanie could not help but reveal, “There’s a guy on this bus, he molested me in high school. He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t be around students.” She was seemingly horrified about the idea that someone who had allegedly taken advantage of her was still an educator and was interacting with students on a regular basis. In the end, it was Jeanie who left the tour behind.

Jeanie McKay is Spending Time With Family Today

Seeing Walker so many years later ended up igniting a fire in Jeanie. “If that could affect me 15 years later, I knew that if it did that to me, a perfectly competent adult, I had to do something about it,” she explained her reasoning as to why she contacted the York Regional Police in Ontario. Given that Walker was still serving as a teacher, the police had to involve the Children’s Aid Society and the York Region District School Board. However, the two organizations claimed that they needed more evidence for further action, prompting the police to drop their charges given the lack of possible conviction.

Despite the mentioned setbacks, Jeanie’s allegations were still being investigated by the Ontario College of Teachers. The evidence that was considered for the case included information from many of Jeanie’s old schoolmates and a picture of her desk where she had carved the previously mentioned notches. Apparently, when Walker learned about the possible case against him from the police, he resigned in July 1999, though many of his supporters at the time shared that he had told everyone that the reason behind his departure was related to an affair from decades ago.

Ultimately in February 2001, the Ontario College of Teachers fined him $2,000 for professional misconduct violation, sexually abusing Jeanie for about two years, and providing alcohol to his underage students. The investigators stated that Walker had “violated one of the most sacred trusts possible in the student relationship … and his actions in this regard were reprehensible.” In the end, Walker agreed to never take up any teaching role in the future.

As of writing, Jeanie lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband and is a proud mother and grandmother. Though she is still a teacher, she does not instruct students in music and does not conduct the bands, stating that the two were too intrinsically related to the pain from her past. As it turns out, Jeanie had married for the first time at a very young age, became a mother, and then divorced. This happened once more before she became a student at a university and carved out a path for herself in the professional world. It was after this that she met her current husband.

Given Anne-Marie Robinson’s unsuccessful attempt at finding justice through the legal route, she decided to contact Jeanie to expose Walker’s actions. “I just sobbed, just lost it,” Jeanie confessed as she remembered the feeling after she was contacted by CBC and Robinson. “I knew someone existed from the other school. My husband just held on to me while I cried. I said, ‘We’ve found her. There’s more of us.'” Together the two women told their stories and helped many others share theirs.

Read More: Anne-Marie Robinson: Where is She Now?

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