House committee blocks RCMP harassment hearings

Women who have gone public with allegations of sexual harassment within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police say that they’re disappointed that a motion for the Standing Committee on the Status of Women to hear testimony on the issue failed to pass last week.

“I don’t think the government is interested in modernizing the RCMP one bit,” Liberal MP Judy Sgro (York West, Ont.) told The Hill Times following a tense week within the House Standing Committee on the Status of Women. “This is National Victims of Crime Week. They say that they care, but on a prime example of women who worked for the federal service, they have no interest in allowing them a chance to speak before the committee.”

Ms. Sgro introduced a motion for the committee to schedule hearings for current and former female Mounties to give testimony on their experiences in the Force last Monday during testimony by RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson.

Mr. Paulson testified before the committee to discuss widespread allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination within the national law enforcement agency. It was his third appearance before a Parliamentary committee since his appointment on Dec. 8 of last year, but his first appearance to specifically address the allegations.

“In order for the RCMP to be a successful policing organization, we must have women contributing in a significant way,” Mr. Paulson told the committee. “[T]he problem is bigger than just simply the sexual harassment. It is ... the idea that we’re having a hierarchical organization overseeing men and women who have extraordinary powers in relation to their fellow citizens, which requires a fair degree of discipline.”

A month before Mr. Paulson’s appointment, former RCMP corporal Catherine Galliford, who had served on Vancouver’s Missing Women’s Task Force, went public with charges that she had endured sexual harassment by male colleagues throughout her 16-year career.

Cpl. Galliford took sick leave in 2007 due to post-traumatic stress disorder. Last year she filed a 115-page complaint with the Force, and has since called for an independent investigation of her former employer.

Following Cpl. Galliford’s public statements, other women came forward with allegations, including former RCMP constable Janet Merlo, who is now listed as the plaintiff in a class action lawsuit that has been filed against the attorney general of Canada and B.C.’s minister of justice. The suit alleges that the RCMP failed to ensure a work environment free of gender-based discrimination and harassment.

That suit is currently awaiting certification, but a spokesperson for Thunder Bay-based Watkins law firm, one of the firms organizing the suit, confirmed that more than 150 current and former Mounties have contacted the legal team with claims of being sexually harassed while serving in the Force.

Mr. Paulson reported that the RCMP is currently conducting a “gender-based audit” to identify institutional problems. He said that he expected the review to be completed by the end of August. He also confirmed that his agency is in the process of training 100 of its own officers to conduct internal investigations of harassment allegations.

Upon introducing her motion last Monday, Ms. Sgro stated that it was “imperative” for the committee to show leadership on the issue.

“This is an issue of the women of Canada and one of the most respected divisions of the RCMP that we all want to see move forward,” Ms. Sgro told the committee. “I think without serious modernization at this level and some good recommendations going forward, the commissioner, with all his great words, intent and desire, will have a very hard time achieving what he wants, which are the tools and modernization that’s clearly needed.”

The commissioner concurred.

“Yes, I think you’re absolutely right,” Mr. Paulson responded, acknowledging that there is support within the force to address the issue.

Although Ms. Sgro wanted the motion voted on in the commissioner’s presence, Conservative MP Susan Truppe (North London Centre, Ont.) pushed for the motion to be deferred to the committee’s next meeting.

Ms. Truppe, who serves as Parliamentary secretary to Status of Women Minister Rona Ambrose (Edmonton-Spruce Grove, Alta.), cited “House duty” as she dodged questions in a hasty exit following the hearing. The Hill Times made subsequent requests for comment by Ms. Truppe and Ms. Ambrose, which were denied.

Following the commissioner’s testimony, NDP women’s critic Niki Ashton (Churchill, Man.) took the government to task in Question Period.

“[W]hat steps will the government take in order to stand by the RCMP and make sure that an end is put to the harassment and abuse women are facing,” Ms. Ashton asked in a question directed to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews (Provencher, Man.), whose portfolio includes oversight of the RCMP.

Mr. Toews responded that he was “extremely troubled” by the allegations, before pointing out that he had referred the matter to the Commission of Public Complaints Against the RCMP.

“As there is pending litigation as well at this time, it would be inappropriate to comment further,” Mr. Toews added, referring to the recently filed class action law suit.

Last week the Commission of Public Complaints Against the RCMP announced that it had received “over 60 individual submissions addressing issues, concerns, and personal experiences with the RCMP’s process for dealing with incidents of alleged harassment,” and expects to release a final report on its findings by the end of 2012.

When the House Status of Women Committee reconvened on April 25, Ms. Sgro reintroduced the motion to have current and former female members of the RCMP appear before the committee.

Ms. Truppe immediately moved for the committee to go in camera.

Conservative MPs Tilly O’Neill Gordon (Miramichi, N.B.), Dan Albas (Okanagan-Coquihalla, B.C.), Stella Ambler (Mississauga South, Ont.), Joyce Bateman (Winnipeg South Centre, Man.), Roxanne James (Scarborough Centre, Ont.), and Wai Young (Vancouver South, B.C.) all voted in favour of Ms. Truppe’s motion to move the meeting in camera. The motion was opposed by Ms. Sgro and New Democrats Niki Ashton (Churchill, Man.), Anne-Marie Day (Charlesbourg-Haute-Sainte-Charles, Que.) and Mylène Freeman (Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel, Que.).

Following last Wednesday’s meeting of the House Status of Women Committee, The Hill Times confirmed that the committee would not be hearing further testimony from female Mounties.

Ms. Sgro said that she was “fed up” with the constraints that the Conservatives have placed on the committee. Of the committee’s 30 meetings since June of last year, 10 have been held behind closed doors in their entirety, while nine more meetings have been moved in camera for part of their duration.

“I don’t think those members have a right to be in Parliament,” Ms. Sgro said of the MPs that opposed her motion. “Who are they representing if they’re not standing up for the women of Canada when they’ve got a prime opportunity to do some serious work?”

Ms. Sgro also noted an apparent reluctance among some Conservative members to force the committee in camera to vote on the motion.

“I think those MPs were uncomfortable. They were clearly muzzled. They were doing exactly what they were instructed to do, because they spoke about these issues on Monday, and they related to them, they understood them, and I think they cared,” Ms. Sgro said.

Ms. Merlo, meanwhile, described the committee’s decision as “disappointing.”

She said that the RCMP needs to be investigated by an outside agency.

“That’s probably why this has gotten to the point it’s at today—because things have gone unchecked for so many years because [the RCMP] investigate themselves,” Ms. Merlo told The Hill Times in a telephone interview last week. “It would have been nice to have somebody from the outside listen to the women and maybe decide that this is bigger than we thought, and bring in an outside agency to do what needs to be done.”

Last December Ms. Merlo went public with allegations that she endured sexual pranks, verbal abuse and intimidation throughout her 20-year career as a constable with the RCMP. She filed a complaint with the Mounties in 2007, but after two years an internal investigation dismissed her claims. Like other women who have gone public with allegations of harassment, Ms. Merlo has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Given her involvement in the suit that was filed against the RCMP in March, Ms. Merlo was limited in what she could disclose during her interview, but when asked if she would have participated in hearings she responded unequivocally: “Absolutely.”

“By dismissing our opportunity to talk to them, it feels like we’ve again been dismissed. The RCMP did their own investigation and they dismissed everything,” said Ms. Merlo, her voice shaking. “This was an opportunity for all of us women who lost our careers, our marriages, our self-confidence, to get up in front of a group of people and tell what happened to us.

“I almost think it’s that they don’t want to hear how bad it’s gotten,” she said of the committee’s decision to not hold further hearings. “I’m not sure they’re even ready to hear it.”

It’s not the first time that former female Mounties have alleged systemic sexual harassment within the RCMP.

In 2007, Sherry-Lee Benson-Podolchuck, who had served as a corporal within the RCMP, filed a law suit against her employer. Ms. Benson-Podolchuck alleged that she experienced harassment and intimidation soon after she joined the RCMP in 1989.

Speaking with The Hill Times last week, Ms. Benson-Podolchuck recounted being the target of sexist nicknames, which were sometimes used on paper work within her detachment. Other pranks included the unhinging of a bathroom stall door which resulted in a cut to her head, and a dead bloodied chicken being placed in her work locker. When she complained to superiors she recalled being told that she had a problem dealing with people.

The harassment subsided for a time following a transfer, but after she injured herself during a training exercise she claims that she was gradually pushed out of the RCMP.

Ms. Benson-Podolchuck settled out of court in 2009, and is not limited by any ongoing legal action. Asked if she would have appeared before the Status of Women Committee, she replied, “In a heart beat.”

She acknowledged that there are many good officers in the RCMP who are aware of harassment, but afraid to come forward in support of fellow officers who are being harassed.

“They’re in a bad system. It’s unfortunate because many of them want to say something, but they know that if they do then the axe is going to come down on them,” she said. “We need a parliamentary inquiry where everything can come out and there’s whistleblower protection. We don’t have that.”

Ms. Benson-Podolchuck was also critical of the committee’s decision to only hear from Mr. Paulson on the matter.

“If you want to know how to fix the problem, ask the people who suffered. That’s the only way they’re going to know,” she told The Hill Times. “If they want to increase women in our national police force, which I was proud to represent, they need to gain their confidence. By shutting them down and not having a transparent hearing, that’s what they’re doing. They’re shutting people down.”

Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: CHRIS PLECASH