(CBC News) – A panel of RCMP officers has concluded it does not have jurisdiction to deal with a constable’s complaint of sexual harassment involving her supervisor because the case took too long to work its way through the bureaucratic process.
The complaint was first raised in 2004, when Const. Laura Lehne was posted to the northern Saskatchewan detachment of Buffalo Narrows.
Lehne complained that her supervisor, Cpl. Tim Korman, directed a number of disparaging and disturbing comments of a sexual nature at her. Her allegations were investigated and found to have merit, according to materials provided to the panel.
The RCMP has an internal process that outlines how harassment complaints are to be investigated and, when merited, examined by a board of inquiry.
Lehne’s case took almost 3½ years to get from the formal complaint stage to an inquiry. The role of the inquiry, according to the RCMP, was to examine the circumstances of the harassment and recommend remedial action, which could include discipline against the supervisor involved.
Regional RCMP head missed deadline
A panel of three senior officers convened in Regina on Monday to look into the case, but before they could get to the substantive issues, Korman’s lawyer argued the matter should be dismissed because of the RCMP took too long to investigate.
On Wednesday, the inquiry determined the time delay was too much, and the case ended. It found that the former head of the RCMP Saskatchewan, Darrell McFadyen, missed a deadline to file papers on the case, by one month.
After having her case thrown out, Lehne told reporters that she was worried it would end up that way.
“I’ve asked the high-ranking officials of the RCMP to deal with this for 4½ years now,” Lehne said.
“I knew if they dragged their feet, they would miss the timelines. It gets thrown out today. And we knew [as] we watched that this was going to occur.
“I talked to the media in 2007 and 2008, saying the RCMP are dragging their feet and this will happen,” Lehne went on. “And, sure enough, today it’s thrown out.”
Lehne said she is upset that although her complaint was found to be valid, no consequences would flow from it.
“It was investigated and founded, and he [Lehne's supervisor] walks out with not a problem,” Lehne said after the hearing ended. “The only person who loses in this is me. The RCMP walk away from any accountability.”
Lehne said she is considering other legal avenues to resolve her complaint, including going to the federal human rights commission.
She is currently on leave without pay from the RCMP.
She said she has already filed a civil lawsuit against the supervising officer.
Later on Wednesday, in a prepared statement for the media, the RCMP said the outcome was disappointing.
“Senior management of the RCMP would have liked to have seen this case come to a resolution with both parties having an opportunity to provide their sides of the story,” the statement said.
It went on to confirm that Lehne had a legitimate case:
“The complaint of harassment was deemed to be founded although with this ruling, formal discipline has now ended.”
In the statement, Chief Superintendent Garry Jay, a senior human resources officer for the RCMP, conceded that “errors were made” in how the case was moved through the internal process.
The female officers should take note of how the system works. In the future when they are sexually harrassed by fellow officers just haul out their billy clubs beat the shit out of them. The system can protect the females then and they will have punished (and maybe educated) their abusers.
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The RCMP is no different than any organization in that you cannot take away ones livelihood until there is due process. There is a small matter of presumed innocence until proven guilty. It works for you and everybody else. Unless you are of the opinion that because they are police officers, the Charter should be suspended until the appropriate process is complete?
The RCMP does have provision for suspension without pay, reserved for the most serious of offences, based on a Prima facie case before due process. (Which is yet to be challenged in court.)
Recent case you can read on the Federal Court website:
http://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/en/2007/2007fc543/2007fc543.html
This will show you what happens when due process is not followed. I shudder to think how much this has cost in tax dollars. In the final analysis, the two cops in the case were suspended without pay later in the process. Both are now back to work and will no doubt benefit from civil proceedings as a result.
I hardly think that the victim in this harassment case, namely one of their own, will end up with nothing. We will however probably not be privy to the amount of money she gets.
Just for your information leave without pay is not like being suspended without pay. Leave without pay is a right exercised by the individual to temporarily separate themselves from the organization willingly.
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Forget the revelation it just won’t happen.
Members caught doing something wrong in the force get leave with pay while their victims get nothing, is this justice?
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You still have not answered my question on the internal RCMP court system. Is it perhaps because it does not underpin your corruption assertion and that the RCMP try to fight violations of ethics and codes in a singular and unprecedented way, which is unique and has the ability to transcend established criminal and administrative law? Or perhaps as is the case in this instance they actually stayed within the established law on time lines such as the Criminal Code has in statutes of limitation?
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The RCMP has once again shown their true colors and failed the Rank and File members. After reading this account of the action taken by upper management, no one will be held accountable for this investigation. The act in it self goes on every day in the force by NCOs and Officers who think their above everyone else and can treat members of the lower ranks this way. They (being the RCMP management) let this complaint lag for over the one year period then they are quick to quote policy, saying that there is nothing they can do because they could not complete there investigation within the one year allowable time frame under the RCMP Act. The question that this article should focus on is why this investigation took over a year, when a murder investigation can be completed and before the courts within a year so what happened in this case.
To Asst. Commissioner Dale McGowan and Chief Supt. Garry Jay, you should be held accountable for your actions in this investigation. It happened on your watch. Does the RCMP still hand out the big bonuses, to members above the rank of Chief Supt., if so, you both should be pulling your hands back at the end of the year, you have let this member down and every other member of the Force who is treated this way daily.
The only action the RCMP will take on this file will be to pay Const. Lehne out at some point and place her on a gag order so that she cannot speak about this compliant any further. Unfortunately the damage has already been done.
My only question to Const. Laura Lehne, why are you on leave without pay, if you are off due to stress, you should be on medical leave and getting paid by the force.
Maybe one day, The Office of the Auditor General of Canada will audit the RCMP and let the Canadian people in on just how much money is paid out to quite members treated like this
And the Commissioner wonders why the RCMP is getting the bad press that they are.
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New York City, Frank Serpico;
http://www.frankserpico.com/
“There is no such thing as a crooked cop – just a crook in a cops uniform”
Movie Trailer;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTRYnsDH8Q
Message from Frank Serpico
Hello and Welcome Visitors.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful and caring people who have emailed me in the past. I receive so many great emails from around the world and I apologize to those that I am not able to personally respond to. Recently my computer hard drive crashed and thousands of email letters were lost along with contact information. I personally no longer own a pc. I decided to take a break from it for a while – a pc can be a great resource, but it can also be a source of information overload. One of the reasons that we started this web site is so that we can communicate with, and provide some information to, a lot of people all at once instead of on an individual basis.
I am especially grateful to those Police Officers of good moral character, my heroes, all of you, who have written to me from all over the country and all over the world telling me of your struggle with a corrupt system of justice, or rather with your superiors who corrupt our system of justice. You are the very fiber that holds our system of justice together, the hope of the down trodden. Some people don’t want to believe what some good honest Police Officers are subjected to and have to endure at the hands of their corrupt colleagues who are oftentimes in positions of leadership. I am most pleased when I hear the stories of those of you who have fought the good fight and in the end, usually after much personal sacrifice and hardship, are vindicated.
The fight for justice against corruption is never easy. It never has been and never will be. It exacts a toll on our self, our families, our friends, and especially our children. In the end, I believe, as in my case, the price we pay is well worth holding on to our dignity. You are an example to others, and it is my belief, that many of those who have yielded to temptation secretly admire your courage and envy your honesty.
I wish you all success, health and happiness.
Frank (Paco) Serpico
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Some women received a large settlement in Alberta not too long ago in such a case. It would appear that the civil remedy may prove to be the only one in the end.
Her complaint should have been copied to the Human Rights process immediately. The complaints commission for the RCMP seems to be strangely silent on this one.
Almost 5 years for adjudication is unacceptable, no matter the outcome.
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This is a violation of her Human Rights…. she is intitled to Justice here in Canada and she has been denied that right…..
Read the Charter of Rights….
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Decision could have broad implications for RCMP
By Heather Polischuk, Regina Leader-Post
March 19, 2009
A decision against disciplining Cpl. Tim Korman for harassment may have broader implications for the RCMP, including making female officers more afraid to come forward with complaints, say some present at this week’s short-lived disciplinary hearing.
“They better not be complaining, because nothing will be done,” complainant Const. Laura Lehne replied when asked how she thought the decision would affect others who experience on-the-job harassment. “It’ll be a waste of their time and life and energy.”
Elizabeth Wilkie with Advocates Against Workplace Violence — a group that represents a number of Saskatchewan women who have experienced workplace harassment — agreed the outcome of this case could have a negative impact on victims who are wondering whether to come forward.
“This sends a message of ‘Shut up, because if you speak up, you’re going to be punished. Your life is going to be devastated …’” she said. “You can understand seeing what Laura’s gone through why a woman would be afraid to speak up.”
Chief Supt. Garry Jay, human resource officer for the RCMP’s northwest region (who testified on Tuesday about the timelines involved in the investigation) admitted on Wednesday the RCMP bears responsibility for the mistakes made in this case. While he said this outcome will provide RCMP with guidance on how to proceed on future cases, he said he understood there may be concerns among some members about coming forward with similar complaints.
“That is a very significant, real risk and we have to insure that we communicate effectively and show by our actions that we’re prepared to learn from this incident and prepared to insure that there is safety in coming forward,” Jay said.
In a release issued Wednesday, Asst. Commissioner Dale McGowan — commanding officer at F Division — said the RCMP respects the board’s decision, although he is “very disappointed the parties involved in this hearing were not able to tell their stories.”
The RCMP is left now to not only deal with fallout from the decision, but also the members directly involved in this case. Jay noted that although the board’s decision means Korman can’t be disciplined, former commanding officer Darrell McFadyen had still found the corporal responsible for acts of harassment and sexual harassment — including, among other transgressions, once being overheard by several people at a party saying he would “ride (Lehne) hard and put her away wet,” according to testimony this week.
“We still have a finding through our internal process that harassment did actually occur here,” Jay said. “We obviously have to deal with that and with the education of not only this particular member, but other members in the RCMP as to what standards of behaviour are consistent with our mission, vision and values.”
While discipline is not an option regarding Korman, Jay said “training opportunities” and “supervisory and other steps” are.
Meanwhile, Lehne is pursuing a civil suit against Korman and the government bodies responsible for the RCMP and is considering human rights action.