(CBC News) – An RCMP officer who claims she was the victim of sexual harassment at her detachment is hoping a formal hearing on her complaint will finally resolve the issue.
Const. Laura Lehne has been on leave for more than a year while her complaint worked its way through the RCMP review process.
Her allegations date to the summer of 2004 when she was posted to the northern Saskatchewan community of Buffalo Narrows. Lehne claims a supervisor, Cpl. Tim Korman, made inappropriate and demeaning comments about her that were sexual in nature over the course of three months.
She says the sexual comments ended when she raised the matter with superiors, but adds that she was treated poorly on the job, again by Korman, during the next 12 months.
Although Lehne’s formal complaint was lodged in October of 2005, it has taken 3½ years for the RCMP to investigate and refer the matter to an internal board for consideration.
A panel of three adjudicators, RCMP officers appointed to consider Lehne’s complaint, began hearing the case on Monday in Regina.
The first issue they had to grapple with was the passage of time, and a motion by Korman’s lawyer to end the proceedings because they have taken too long to proceed.
Lehne said she was afraid something like that could happen.
“It’s been five years of hell,” Lehne told CBC News, referring to July of 2004 when she claims the harassment began. “It’s been a nightmare. They know it. And here we are, five years later, where it might get thrown out because they dragged their feet.”
The hearing is scheduled to last all week if the board determines it should continue. The panel was expected to hear more arguments about the delay issue on Tuesday.
Lehne told CBC News that she has grown skeptical of the process.
“They [the RCMP] don’t want this brought up — they don’t want this in the media,” Lehne said on Monday. “They’d rather hide it, sweep it under the carpet. They won’t deal with it. And females know that if you come forward you will have the nightmare that I’ve been going through.”
Korman, who was present on Monday, did not comment. His lawyer also declined to be interviewed.
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