Q: What first piqued your curiosity and starting you thinking about making a film about the scandal at Quest?

MW: My co-producer Eunice Lee. She approached me about it in the autumn of 2001. Eunice had been a student at Vancouver's Prince of Wales school during that era, but hadn't taken the Quest outdoor education program. She had 'lost' a good friend to the program, a girl who got sucked into the cliquish, closed circle of Quest and ignored her friends, including Eunice.

What first captured my interest was how emotional Eunice still was about the Quest program and the rumours surrounding it. Her words to me, even two decades later, were fired with 'us and them' language, and she obviously still felt resentful. I sensed that if she still had unresolved issues about this period of her life, there must be others who did, too.

One woman who was involved told me that there's psychological shrapnel imbedded in almost everyone who went through the Quest program. And, after spending over 5 years talking to various people involved, I have no doubt that's true. Even the teachers and administrators have been affected by what went on, and many are still scared to speak out. They actually still fear repercussions from “the boys” (teachers Tom Ellison, Dean Hull, and Stan Callegari).

So, if it affected so many people so intensely, I wondered why no one was talking about what had happened and how they felt about it? Where there is a lack of awareness and public forum around a big social issue, I feel it's a filmmaker's role to wade in and get people thinking and talking. That's what motivated me.

Q: Do you recall your initial reaction when you started researching the subject and talking to people involved in the story?

MW: Very clearly! As we started the research, we found so many small stories that made our jaws drop that we thought at one point we'd have a dark comedy on our hands. Stories such as one about Tom and the other two teachers sneaking into the women's staff room (they were separate in those days) and to steal their coffee mugs. Sort of funny in a childish way, but the female teachers hated it. Or, Tom would stand at the bottom of one of the school stairways during class changes at look up at the girls going up the stairs and comment in a loud voice, “look at those tomatoes”! We'd start to laugh, but then the darker side would creep in.

When you hear one small story after another – and everybody you talk to about this story had them - even Tom's allies - you start to piece together a composite image that was much more sinister and unconscionable.

Q: What aspect of the story especially surprised you?

MW: I know that one thing that really shocked me was that no one else before now had put all the pieces together. None of the women had shared their stories, most didn't even know each other. None of the guys who were students at Quest during that period had talked about what happened or about any guilt they might have carried. I was hearing all these insane stories from individuals and had to keep reminding myself that these people didn't have the greater context.

As I was doing the interviews they'd be surprised by some of the things I asked … which I assumed they already knew. I learned to be careful, because I didn't want what I'd found out about others' specific stories to influence what the current interviewee would say in the interview, or to taint the honest response of my subjects, including capturing the occasional element of surprise on camera.

Q: Is there one, common reaction that people involved in this story shared?

MW: Yes. Guilt. It's one of the biggest scars these people carry. The women especially, feel they “asked for it”. Most had crushes on Tom Ellison and the other program teachers and did what many teenage girls will do. They flirted in that 15, 16 year-old way. The women, as girls, felt they absolutely knew what they were doing at the time. Some still feel that. And in a way they did. But knowing what you're getting into at 15 is not the same as knowing what you're getting into at 25 or 35.

Q: You're talking theoretically?

MW: Actually, no, I'm talking from personal experience. When I was 16 or 17 years old and in high school in the late 60s, I had a sexual relationship with one of my teachers. So I was able to know first hand how easily it can happen. I felt I knew what I was getting into at the time. I don't think I did anything wrong. In my instance, the teacher was not predatory in the way Tom was, and I honestly don't think he was having plural relationships. But … he should not have crossed that line. Not only not today, but not then either, and not in the 70s, and not in the 80s or since. It has always been a “no go zone”.

Teenagers have sexual feelings, and they don't know what to do with them. It's up to the responsible adult, the person in a position of authority, to walk the other way. Many of Tom's conquests still don't really understand that it wasn't their fault. And many in the community still don't understand that just because a teenage girl “asks for it” doesn't mean there's license to “give it”.

Q: You're saying it's a question of morality, and approaching the story from that angle.

MW: Well, partly, but having said all of that, I never wanted this documentary to become a moral rant. There will always be people like Tom in our society. It's not useful to say, “That's it, got him!” and then wash our hands and not think about it any more. We have to ask ourselves the harder questions. And the one that intrigued me most was the 'secrets' aspect.

Why are these things kept secret? How did this stay buried for so long, and what can we learn from the situation to apply to the next one? How can we, as a society, better protect ourselves from the inevitable “Toms” among us?

Q: And how can we?

MW: First, it seems to me that we have to talk about it. And second, take responsibility for our own action, or inaction, in the situation. What surprised me the most in this story was that, after the story finally broke and the case went to court, the school board still would not participate in open discussion.

I've been filming in schools throughout my career. I've always gained easy access and had full cooperation, and the resulting documentaries have always been received in good light by the schools and school board. In this case, though, the entire educational system closed ranks and refused me entry. I wanted to film in the classroom where Quest took place. I was not allowed. I asked for another tiered classroom, instead. I was not allowed. I wanted to film with Denise in her classroom just to reveal, in context, she was now a teacher herself. That became an extremely difficult process, with many restrictions. We ended up not using it because we couldn't see her actively teach, even when we agreed not to show the students' faces.

I asked for an interview with anyone who could speak for the school board or school administration. I was denied. Then, desperate for visuals to tell the story, I branched out to the private schools … they wouldn't touch my request with a ten-foot pole once they found out what story I was doing. So how are we ever going to affect real change in the system if it's still so closed? I don't think we can. Transparency is key, and we still don't have it.

Q: Did anyone try to discourage you from telling this story?

MW: Yes, some people did. They said that, in telling this story, I was out to destroy outdoor education programs. I'm not. I am a big believer in the value of outdoor education, and wish all students had access to it. Outdoor education is especially important in a world that's falling apart at the environmental seams.

Both my own kids went through the current TREK outdoor education program at Prince of Wales. It's designed to help kids understand how the natural world has an impact on their daily lives, and in turn, what kind of impact their daily lives have on the environment so they can ultimately make informed and responsible decisions. Trek changed the way my kids view the world … in a positive way.

I was already working on this documentary when they applied to the program, so we went in with our eyes open. Wide open. I talked to my kids about what had happened before, and about staying in touch with their 'spidey senses' as they did the program. It operates now at a very high level of both educational and moral standards. Open communication is encouraged between students and teachers, parents and teachers, and students and parents. As it should be. I highly recommend the current program, and you don't even have to have sex with your teachers to get a good outdoor education!

Melanie Wood (producer/director) has directed and produced a wide variety of current affairs and documentary programs for the CBC and others for the last twenty years. Her documentary A Stranger In Our Home, which tells the disturbing tale of two teenage victims of Internet predators, has been extremely popular with both broadcasters and educators around the world. Wood's previous documentary directing credits include To Have and To Hold, profiling the victims of stalkers; The Sweet Assassin, revealing the devastating effects of diabetes in the First Nations community; On Wings and Dreams: The Men Who Built Canada's Airlines, an historical documentary for Global Television; and Chasing The Cure: Brett Finlay, Man Against Microbe, a one hour science biography in a series for Paperny Films. Wood also directed and produced the groundbreaking and award-winning documentary O.com, the story of cybersex addicts whose virtual universe becomes more compelling, more 'real', than the world outside the computer, for CBC's The Passionate Eye. Melanie Wood is based in Vancouver.