Toronto Star
Sexual harassment and gender discrimination within the RCMP is a problem that has been ignored for too long, according to a Manitoba Mountie who has filed a lawsuit against her employer.
Cpl. Sherry-Lee Benson-Podolchuk claims she suffered years of abuse that forced her to take stress leave and caused ailments, including depression, anxiety and loss of self-esteem.
Benson-Podolchuk, 44, is seeking unspecified financial damages from the RCMP and the federal government in one of the first civil cases of its kind in Manitoba.
“Enough is enough,” she told the Winnipeg Free Press. “It’s unfortunate it had to come to this stage, but (the RCMP) had ample opportunity to rectify this situation years ago. “But this is a systemic problem that they don’t know how to deal with. Senior officers who have the power to make decisions about this don’t know what to do and just pretend everything is fine.”
None of Benson-Podolchuk’s allegations has been proven in court and the parties being sued have until the end of January to file statements of defence.
“I’m a very private person and to have this all come out into the open is very disturbing,” she said. “But by not doing anything I’m not helping the process.”
The officer added she knows she’s not the only one who has been sexually harassed.
Her lawyer, Darryl Buxton, said he’s received several phone calls this week from women with similar complaints.
Benson-Podolchuk, who is on paid leave, claims she endured “an intentional and reckless campaign” of sexual and emotional harassment and discrimination that spanned 15 years and two provinces.
Her alleged problems began in 1991 at the Tisdale, Sask. RCMP detachment, shortly after graduating from the police academy.
Most cadets that are hounded out most times with racially neutral harassment. You see, it is ok to harass someone into leaving or to the point that their lives get so miserable they get thrown out for being a stress case. But, in most cases the culprits are smart enough to not make their crusade to rid the organization of someone a racial one. As long as only “politically incorrect” motivated harassment is the only type of harassment that gets punished than this type of thing will go on and the lynch mob will flourish.
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It is unfortunate that people in our society who see themselves as white and who are seen by other as white cannot have empathy for those non-white cadets who are harassed because of RACE.
If you do not understand racism (White Supremacy)-what it is —how it works—everything else that you understand will only confuse you.
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Gender and racially neutral Harassment is SYSTEMIC not sexual harassment. What makes me sick is that that white males get harassed and hounded out of the force just like minorities and women. But, because destroying the life of a white male isn’t politically incorrect you never hear of any arguments about it being a widespread problem.
If you look at the Canadian human rights act it covers every politically disadvantaged group except white men. Even then, if a member of a listed group is harassed and there is no proof that it was racially or sexually motivated does the injured party even have a case? Probably not. What it says to me is that it is OK to ruin someones life just as long as it is not done for politically incorrect reasons! This policy is Nonsense!
When is our society going to wake up and realize that this behavior is wrong for the sake of being wrong, regardless of politically incorrect motivations? The “Force” is notorious for Mobbing and Workplace bullying, and the boundaries know no racial or sexual lines. It is a world where political correctness is a much larger concern than what is just and decent. Political correctness contrary to what any liberal will tell you is not about honesty, compassion or
righteousness, it is about reality control.
The force is very “pack” driven organization that fosters internal backstabbing and divide and conquer tactics. This process begins at Depot and just like on the TV show survivor, cadet troops weed out the strong (who are a threat) and the the weak (who are a liability). There have been many top of the class cadets hounded out of the training program via harassment, lies, rumor and innuendo perpetrated by certain “Ringleaders”. When harassment takes effect, the force gets rid of the targeted cadets and does NOTHING to the troublemakers. Nothing! That is why you have cases like Arar, caused by dishonest cops. Cadets are taught to live in a survivor type world, instead of having honesty and integrity instilled in them. Respect for the force is at an all time low, and it is not caused by the high profile cases but how the RCMP conducts itself in it’s day to day operations.
Maybe when the Force starts to again worry about being the best police force in the world, instead of the most politically correct than it will be worthy of wearing that Red Uniform which history they ride the coattails of.
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