A former Yellowknife RCMP officer is at the centre of a $1-billion lawsuit filed against Canada’s national police force last week.
In a recent interview with CBC News, Staff Sgt. Geoffrey Greenwood, now a Mountie stationed in Alberta and one of two lead plaintiffs in the suit, detailed workplace bullying and ridicule he claims he faced from 2008 to 2010 while serving as a member of the force in Yellowknife
The 44-page lawsuit, filed in federal court on Friday, details “systematic bullying, intimidation and harassment,” within the RCMP’s ranks, according to the broadcaster.
Greenwood told CBC News he experienced severe backlash from superiors at the Yellowknife Detachment after he reported corruption allegations leveled against some drug enforcement officers.
Soon, he claims, he was confronted with “reprisals,” for reporting the allegations. According to the report from CBC, Greenwood faced internal charges as a result, which the lawsuit characterizes as an “egregious form of bullying.”
The lawsuit alleges Greenwood was alienated and ridiculed at work before being transferred to another jurisdiction outside of NWT in 2010.
The jarring allegations of “systematic bullying,” come on the heels of a watershed admission from the force’s former commissioner in 2016, who acknowledged a widespread culture of harassment and intimidation within the RCMP.
The same year, a $100 million settlement was reached for thousands of women employed on the force who allege workplace harassment or mistreatment.
Sgt. Todd Gray, the second lead plaintiff in the suit, is alleging he witnessed a superior abuse Indigenous people while he was stationed in Nunavut in 2002.
All of the allegations made in the suit have not yet been tested in court.
According to the CBC, if the new $1.1 billion lawsuit is deemed to be a class action suit, thousands of current and past employees could seek compensation.
Yellowknifer's attempts to contact both Greenwood and Gray were unsuccessful.
Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association – an organization mandated to strengthen the workplace rights of cops across the country – told Yellowknifer the recent allegations are linked to a lack of representation for RCMP members on the force.
“A lot of these harassment and bullying complaints are coming from the RCMP (because) they don't work in a unionized environment. They have no collective representative within the organization. I would suggest that's part of the problem,” said Stamatakis.
With no representation, Stamatakis said victims of mistreatment are often forced to go back to work with the same people that either “engaged in inappropriate behavior, condoned or ignored it.”
“...Over time it's had this very catastrophic effect on the organization and has allowed these types of circumstances to exist and develop, and of course now we're seeing the consequences of that because people are coming forward … ,” said Stamatakis.
“I think in policing, historically, we've not done a very good job of making sure the work environment is free of harassment or bullying. That's rooted in our history,” he added.
Yellowknifer contacted Yellowknife RCMP to determine whether the allegations had been investigated, or if they would be.
Calling the allegations and lawsuit a “national topic,” a Yellowknife RCMP spokesperson directed all media inquires to the force's national media relations.
A national spokesperson told Yellowknifer due to the recent filing, there hasn't been enough time to thoroughly review it.
“The receipt of another claim of this sort serves to keep us focused on the work we are doing to provide all employees with a safe and respectful work environment, free from harassment and reminds us of the work still to be done,” stated an email.
“The RCMP continues to improve and expand on measures it has put in place to address conflict and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. Any report of misbehaviour is concerning to the RCMP and we take such allegations seriously. We continue to encourage anyone who feels they are the victim of inappropriate behaviour to report it.”
Yellowknifer will be following this story closely and will be offering updates in the coming days.
Jury finds man guilty of sexual assault, assault
A Yellowknife jury found a 40-year-old man guilty of committing a number of violent acts against his former girlfriend, returning a verdict on June 14.
The man, who isn’t being named to protect the identity of the victim, was tried by a judge and 10-member jury after pleading not guilty to sexual assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault, assault and uttering threats.
The offender’s ex-girlfriend – who regularly attended court during the trial – went to police in 2016, alleging he committed a string of assaults between 2012 and 2016.
She testified the two would sometimes meet for sex, but that the man made unwanted sexual contact during a visit to his Yellowknife apartment in 2012, and that he abused her while the two were in a relationship between 2013 and 2016.
The man also took the stand during the trial, adamantly denying the allegations, calling them “lies.”
After hearing closing submissions from the man’s lawyer and the Crown on the afternoon of June 14, the jury returned with a verdict around 8 p.m.
The jury, made up of six men and four women, convicted the man on two counts of sexual assault, one count of assault and one count of uttering threats. He was not convicted of sexual assault causing bodily harm.
Citing the need to send the right message to the public and mitigate any risks for the victim, Justice Shannon Smallwood denied bail for the man during a court appearance the following morning.
Four-month sentence for man who chased girlfriend with knife
A man suffering from addictions with a traumatic past was spared a lengthy jail sentence in territorial court Monday, despite being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend multiple times over a two-month period.
“If I wasn’t under the influence of alcohol … I wouldn’t be standing before you,” the 29-year-old man, who isn’t being named to protect the identity of the victim, told the judge.
The court heard the defendant, who was living with his then-girlfriend in Alberta, assaulted the woman on three separate occasions in October 2017. During one incident, the man held a knife to her neck before chasing her with it as she fled their apartment.
In May, Yellowknife RCMP responded to a report of the man pushing another woman to the ground. When police arrived, the man resisted arrest and fled. When he was caught, he struck an officer.
Citing his client’s tumultuous upbringing, the man’s lawyer said there were significant Gladue factors – considerations of Indigenous offenders’ backgrounds in sentencing – at play. The deputy judge agreed.
He handed the man a global sentence of four months in jail, far less than the seven-to nine-month submission put forth by the Crown. The man will spend two years on probation after his release.