Supreme Court dismisses appeal to stop class action against RCMP for bullying

The RCMP brand is seen outdoors Royal Canadian Mounted Police "E" Division Headquarters (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck).

OTTAWA --
The Supreme Courtroom of Canada won't hear an attraction from the federal authorities attempting to cease a $1.1 billion class motion towards the RCMP over bullying and harassment.

The lead plaintiffs within the class motion, veteran RCMP members Geoffrey Greenwood and Todd Grey, say there was a tradition of systemic intimidation and harassment within the power that was condoned by RCMP management.

The category motion was first filed in 2018, and a Federal Courtroom decide licensed it in 2020.

The federal authorities fought the case from the start, arguing the RCMP had an inside administrative decision course of for office harassment claims that precludes the usage of a category motion to deal with the problem.

The Federal Courtroom of Enchantment upheld the decrease court docket's ruling certifying the category motion final fall. The federal authorities then sought to have the Supreme Courtroom of Canada assessment the choice.

In a choice Thursday, the Supreme Courtroom dismissed that utility with prices, paving the best way for the category motion to proceed.

As normal, the Supreme Courtroom gave no causes for the choice to dismiss the attraction.

In a submission to the Supreme Courtroom asking it to listen to the attraction, federal attorneys argued when there's an inside dispute course of in a office, court docket intervention needs to be distinctive.

Permitting the category motion to proceed would hurt the "broad mosaic" of inside dispute mechanisms proper throughout the federal public service, together with the RCMP, federal attorneys argued.

The plaintiffs argued that the recourse out there to them was to go up the chain of command to officers who had been both a part of the issue or who selected to guard the perpetrators of the harassment.

They referred to as the federal government's attraction "the most recent chapter" in many years of presidency makes an attempt to keep away from accountability for the poisonous tradition of bullying and intimidation within the RCMP.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki mentioned in a written assertion that she respects the choice of the court docket.

"Separate and aside from the court docket proceedings, I acknowledge there's all the time extra we will do to enhance our office," she mentioned. "Guaranteeing a extra equitable office freed from harassment, violence and discrimination is a prime precedence for the RCMP."

She pointed to the launch final June of the Impartial Centre for Harassment Decision, a centralized and unbiased unit particularly established to resolve harassment and violence inside the power.

"I'm decided to result in constructive change on the RCMP," Lucki mentioned.

This isn't the primary class motion towards the RCMP over alleged harassment. In 2016, a settlement was reached in a category motion from a whole bunch of girls who mentioned they had been sexually harassed and abused whereas members of the RCMP.

In the end $125 million was paid to 2,304 girls.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed March 17, 2022.