A Manitoba teacher has lost his teaching certification after he sent explicit messages online to a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl. The Commissioner of Teacher Professional Conduct recently stripped the teaching certification of Joshua William Braaksma, a teacher in the Mountain View School Division, following a professional misconduct hearing in May. According to the hearing decision posted online, the investigation started almost one year ago on July 23, 2025, on social media platforms Kik and Snapchat. Detective goes undercover The report states a detective from the Owatonna Police Department in Minnesota was investigating sexual exploitation of minors. While acting undercover, the detective — whose name is redacted in the report — made a post in a group pretending to be a male in his 40s in a relationship with a high school girl. The report said a user identified as “hooves00” sent a private message to the detective. According to the report, “hooves00” said he was a high school volleyball coach who dated one of his players or students after she had graduated from high school. During the conversation, the detective allegedly provided “hooves00” with contact information for a fictious 15-year-old girl on Snapchat. “Later that same day, a Snapchat account associated with the names ‘Josh’ and ‘Brax’ initiated communication with the undercover account,” the report reads. The report alleges the user of the Snapchat account engaged in sexualized communications with the purported 15-year-old girl, including requesting photographs of her breasts using a cherry emoji, which the detective said was a common method of making such requests in similar investigations. The report also alleges he sent a shirtless photo of himself to the user. ‘Messages were sexual in nature’ There is no preserved image or video recording of the cherry emoji message, the report said, but other messages and communications during the exchange were retained. “The panel finds that, taken together with the surrounding communications, the photographs and messages were sexual in nature and involved interactions with a person whom the user believed to be a minor,” the report reads. According to the report, photographs associated with the Snapchat account were reviewed with facial recognition technology and generated a potential match to the teacher. Individuals who know the teacher — whose names were also redacted — identified Braaksma as the user of the Snapchat account and the person in the photos. ‘Serious breach’ of boundaries According to the report, Braaksma was questioned by Mountain View School Division in September, and he confirmed he had accounts on both Kik and Snapchat. “When asked about his Kik username, he declined to provide further information and requested an opportunity to consult legal counsel,” the panel said in the report. The panel said Braaksma engaged in professional misconduct and that his conduct represented a “serious breach” of the professional boundaries expected of a teacher. “Although there is no evidence that the teacher engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an actual student or minor in the course of the electronic communications, the conduct established on the evidence demonstrates a willingness to engage in sexualized communications with a person believed to be a minor and is incompatible with the role of a teacher,” the panel wrote. “Teachers occupy a position of trust and authority in relation to children and young persons. The public is entitled to expect that teachers will maintain appropriate boundaries and conduct themselves in a manner that promotes the safety and well-being of students.” Certificate cancellation ‘necessary’ The panel said the cancellation of Braaksma’s teaching certificate is “necessary” to protect the public and maintain confidence in the teaching profession. Braaksma did not participate in a public hearing, so the case was dealt with via written submissions. Braaksma did not send submissions, according to the final report. According to the Manitoba Teacher Registry, he was initially certified as a teacher in 2012. The Mountain View School Division confirmed Braaksma was a teacher in the division since 2015, but is no longer employed.
