A Vancouver teacher is facing four charges of possessing and distributing child pornography, police said. Christopher Charles Ingvaldson, 40, of Vancouver was arrested Friday morning after an intensive two-week investigation by the Vancouver Police Vice Unit.Photograph by: web, http://isabc2009.ning.com

VANCOUVER — Liberal MP Justin Trudeau is among those expressing "shock" that a former teaching colleague and friend is facing child-pornography charges in Vancouver.

Chris Ingvaldson was dismissed from St. George's School, a Vancouver private school, last week after police alleged he was accessing child pornography at home and at school.

Ingvaldson faces four charges related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.

"As was the case for all Chris's friends, it was with shock and bewilderment that I learned of the serious charges laid against him," Justin Trudeau said in a statement sent to the Vancouver Province this week.

The Quebec MP and son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau was a close friend of Ingvaldson when they taught together at another Vancouver private school, West Point Grey Academy, about 10 years ago.

According to his profile on an online social-networking site, Ingvaldson spent nine years teaching at West Point Grey before becoming head of the social studies department at St. George's, an all-boys school, in September 2006. Trudeau left West Point Grey in 2001.

By Glenda Luymes, Canwest News Service June 9, 2010