Timeline of Events

1994
April
Alleged Victoria Cliffe assault
RCMP Constable Robert Blundell contacts Constable Victoria Cliffe and asks her to be part of an undercover investigation in Calgary related to an unsolved homicide. Cliffe is not a trained undercover officer and is not authorized to participate in the investigation.
After the day's undercover work is over, Blundell allegedly assaults Cliffe in a hotel room at the Marlborough Hotel in Calgary.

May 7
Alleged Krista Carle Assault
RCMP Constable Krista Carle is asked to take part in an undercover investigation in Calgary related to an unsolved homicide. She has no undercover training. This is her first undercover operation.
Blundell allegedly assaults Carle during the operation that day.

1995
March 27
Robert Blundell is promoted to the rank of corporal.

1996
Alleged L. Doe Assault

January-May
An RCMP corporal referred to in legal documents as L. Doe is part of an undercover investigation with Corporal Robert Blundell in Calgary. The scenario involves the two of them setting up house in a hotel room.

Sometime in February Blundell allegedly drives L. Doe to an open field outside the city and makes sexual advances.

Sometime between February and May Blundell allegedly assaults L. Doe in an elevator at the Coast Hotel in Calgary by ripping open her blouse and grabbing her breasts.

1997
Alleged T. Doe assault

January 24
An RCMP constable referred to in legal documents as T. Doe goes on her first undercover investigation with Corporal Robert Blundell. Constable Doe had completed a three-week undercover training program just a month earlier.

She ends up sharing a hotel room with Blundell at the Coast Hotel where he allegedly sexually assaults her until he ejaculates.

1999
January 29
Robert Blundell is promoted to the rank of sergeant.

July
Constable T. Doe reports the alleged sexual assault by Blundell to the RCMP K Division Internal Investigations Unit. A Code of Conduct investigation begins.

September 2
T. Doe gives her first interview in relation to the Blundell Code of Conduct investigation.

November 23
T. Doe gives a videotaped statement about the alleged Blundell assault to the Calgary Police Service Sex Crimes Unit.

2000
February 22
RCMP Sergeant Randy Burgess interviews Constable T. Doe about the Blundell investigation and allegedly asks if she realizes what it will do to her boyfriend's career in the RCMP and whether she realizes that Sergeant Blundell could lose his job.

February 23
Burgess interviews T. Doe's boyfriend about the Blundell case.

May 4
T. Doe is interviewed again.

May 18
T. Doe undergoes another interview about the Blundell allegations.

June 26
Corporal L. Doe provides a recorded statement regarding her allegations that Blundell sexually assaulted her.

August
Constable Victoria Cliffe records a statement about her allegations against Blundell and her unauthorized participation in the undercover investigation six years earlier.

October 11
Cliffe provides another recorded statement regarding her allegations.

November
L. Doe gives a recorded statement regarding her allegations against Blundell to the Calgary Police Service Sex Crimes Unit.

2001
January
The RCMP announces that it has started implementing "sweeping anti-harassment policies."

January 23
Constable Victoria Cliffe provides a recorded statement about the Blundell allegations to the Calgary Police Service Sex Crimes Unit.

February
Constable T. Doe is told that her allegations against Sergeant Blundell have been 'substantiated' and that the matter will go before an RCMP Adjudication Board later that year, in August.

March 26
Alberta RCMP internal investigations officers contact Constable Krista Carle regarding the undercover operation she worked on with Blundell in 1994.

March 27
Carle provides a statement to the internal investigations unit regarding her allegations against Blundell.

April
RCMP Sergeant Dan Malo volunteers to give a statement about the Blundell Code of Conduct investigation. He states that at other times Constables T. Doe and Victoria Cliffe had conducted themselves in a manner that would bring discredit to the RCMP.

April 30
Corporal L. Doe gives another recorded statement about Blundell's alleged sexual assault on her.

May
T. Doe and her boyfriend meet with Member's Representative (AOR) Tim Nixon -- who is assigned to prosecute the case against Sergeant Blundell -- and Superintendent Peter German to express concerns about how T. Doe is being treated and how the investigation is being carried out.

Both Victoria Cliffe and L. Doe are informed that their allegations against Blundell had been 'substantiated' and that a 'Board' would be struck to hear the allegations. However, Cliffe's allegation that she was not authorized to participate in an undercover operation is not substantiated. Both women are advised that the disciplinary hearing into their allegations will be held on December 11 of that year.

Cliffe claims that after making statements about the Blundell case, she is harassed by colleagues while working as a hostage negotiator with the RCMP's Emergency Response Team.

Constable Krista Carle provides a recorded statement regarding her allegations.

June 27
The Calgary Police Service Sex Crimes Unit interviews Carle regarding her allegations against Blundell.

July 25
T. Doe's lawyer writes to Deputy RCMP Commissioner Beverly Busson raising concerns about the investigation and asking for an adjournment of the upcoming adjudication board hearing. The letter states that Tim Nixon, the RCMP prosecutor, has failed to provide copies of T. Doe's statements that would allow her to prepare for the hearing.

July 31
Busson responds to T. Doe's lawyer saying she will not replace Nixon

August 8-10
The RCMP adjudication board hearing into T. Doe's sexual assault complaint begins.

September 14
The adjudication board determines that T. Doe's allegations are unfounded and acquits Blundell. "The Board is sensitive to the issues of sexual harassment and unwelcome conduct: however, we must first believe (T. Doe) and we do not," the three adjudicators write. "The Board feels she sincerely believes her testimony to be true, but thinks she may be honestly mistaken."

T. Doe contacts AOR Nixon regarding an appeal and is told there will not be one.

October 3
Carle is informed that her allegations against Sergeant Blundell have not been substantiated and as a result an adjudication hearing would not be scheduled. Due to alleged harassment after her statement about Blundell, Carle takes a leave of absence from the RCMP without pay.

November
Victoria Cliffe and L. Doe hire outside legal counsel to represent them. Their lawyer writes to Deputy Commissioner Busson complaining that AOR Nixon did not properly prepare the two women for the upcoming discipline hearing in December. Busson replaces Nixon with Jennifer McCormick, a criminal lawyer in private practice, as the RCMP prosecutor.

December 10
An RCMP adjudication board hearing the Cliffe and V. Doe allegations against Blundell begins in Calgary. At the end of the day, Blundell's lawyer tells McCormick his client is interested in negotiating a deal.

December 11
McCormick asks Deputy Commissioner Busson for instructions and spends the day in various negotiations. McCormick drafts a letter to Blundell's lawyer and sends it to Busson for review. RCMP Superintendent Peter German reviews the letter before it is presented to Busson and recommends McCormick not send it as drafted.

December 12
German attends the Board hearing in Calgary and helps negotiate a plea bargain with Blundell, which is approved by Deputy Commissioner Busson. Blundell had previously denied all the allegations against him. But in an agreed statement of facts, he admits that he "touched private areas of Const. Cliffe's body on top of her clothing" and that he grabbed L. Doe's breast. Blundell receives a reprimand, loses one day of time off and is recommended for counseling.

2002
April 24
The four women who say Sergeant Blundell assaulted them convey their concerns in writing to RCMP Commissioner Giuliani Zaccardelli.

June
Commissioner Zaccardelli orders a review of the RCMP's internal complaints process specifically in relation to the allegations made against Blundell. Chief Superintendent Ian Atkins and Sergeant Chris Harmes are asked to carry out an internal review. Private labour and employment lawyer Carole Piette is also asked to carry out an independent review.

December
A Code of Conduct investigation against Constable T. Doe and her boyfriend begins, based on a statement by Sergeant Dan Malo that sometime in 1996 T. Doe and her boyfriend conducted themselves in a manner that would bring discredit to the RCMP while stationed in Banff, Alberta

December 12
Robert Blundell is promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.

2003
March
Superintendent Ian Atkins and Sergeant Chris Harmes file a 114-page report of their review into how the Blundell case was handled. The authors write that they have "significant concerns" about how complaints against Staff Sergeant Blundell by Constable Victoria Cliffe and Sergeant L. Doe were handled. It also reveals four new allegations that Blundell had had inappropriate sexual relations.

June 27
The four female RCMP officers who made the original complaints meet with Commissioner Zaccardelli in Ottawa to express to him in person their concerns about continued harassment as well as personal and professional suffering since making their complaints.

September 25
They file a statement of claim against 20 defendants, including the AG of Canada and Zaccardelli, alleging that Blundell sexually harassed and assaulted them while working on undercover operations with him on separate occasions between 1994 and 1997. Blundell's name is eventually severed from the file.

2004
August 3
The RCMP settles the civil action. The force announces it is pushing through anti-harassment training for 22,000 employees.

2006
May
20 RCMP officers ask the Ontario Supreme Court to give them the right to form a union, claiming the internal complaints system is flawed and leaves them vulnerable to harassment by superiors.

2011
September
Burnaby RCMP Const. Susan Gastaldo files a claim in B.C. Supreme Court, alleging that Staff Sgt. Travis Pearson coerced her into a sexual relationship and threatened her into silence.

November
One of B.C.'s highest profile Mounties, RCMP Corporal Catherine Galliford makes public her complaints of ongoing sexual harassment during her 20-year career with the police service.

December
the fifth estate obtains of copy of the Atkins report through an Access to Information request and makes it public for the first time.

The RCMP tells the fifth estate that the four additional allegations against Staff Sergeant Blundell were investigated but were not substantiated.