Manitoba teacher who gave alcohol, cannabis to high school student stripped of certificates | CBC News
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A Manitoba teacher has been stripped of his teaching certifications after admitting to meeting up with a high school student late last year and giving them alcohol and cannabis.
David Duke, who had been a teacher at Frontier School Division, used social media to communicate with an underaged high school student in September 2025, according to a conflict-resolution agreement with Manitoba’s commissioner of teacher professional conduct dated March 16.
Duke admitted to meeting with the student at a “pre-arranged location,” where he provided them with alcohol, cannabis and a cannabis vape pen, the agreement says.
Duke’s actions were not in the student’s best interests and well-being, were not the appropriate behaviour expected of a teacher, were a “fundamental breach” of a teacher’s duty of care owed to students, and undermines the public’s confidence in the education system, the agreement says.
Duke received his first teaching certificate in Manitoba in 1995, later becoming certified as a school administrator, principal and as a special education teacher and co-ordinator, according to the document.
The agreement says Duke agreed that his actions amounted to professional misconduct, and to having each of his teaching certificates cancelled.
The document does not specify where the incident took place. The Frontier division is Manitoba’s largest by geographical area, covering 75 per cent of the land mass across the province’s northern and remote areas.
Chief superintendent Tyson MacGillivray said Duke was “fully retired” from the school division at the time of the incident.
“He had effectively retired on June 30, 2025,” MacGillivray told CBC News.
MacGillivray encourages parents and caregivers to have conversations with their children.
“I think it’s important that — when situations like this arise — that parents talk to their children and make sure that they’re aware of what’s happening in their children’s lives.”
He declined to comment any further on the matter.
A Manitoba RCMP spokesperson declined to comment to CBC News on whether there’s an active investigation into Duke’s misconduct.
CBC News has reached out to Duke for comment.