Mounties issue sweeping denial in B.C. harassment lawsuit
CBC News
Posted: Jul 17, 2012 12:43 PM PT
Last Updated: Jul 17, 2012 2:52 PM PT
Related
Related Stories
The RCMP is denying allegations contained in a high-profile sexual harassment lawsuit against the force that prompted several other female Mounties to come forward with claims of abuse.
Cpl. Catherine Galliford, who was a police spokeswoman on the Air India and Robert Pickton cases, first outlined her allegations in an interview with CBC News last fall and filed her lawsuit in May
The provincial government and Ottawa, which acts on behalf of the RCMP, filed a response to civil claim on Monday.
The response denies all of Galliford's allegations and instead paints her as an alcoholic who refused treatment and rejected the RCMP's efforts to keep her away from one of the men she alleged harassed her.
The response to civil claim says Galliford never alerted the force to her allegations before 2011, when she filed a formal complaint that was investigated immediately.
The governments also dispute Galliford's claim that a medical report provided to an RCMP doctor diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress.
'Paying lip service'
In an interview with CBC News on Tuesday, Galliford acknowledged she did not alert the force to the harassment.
The provincial government and Ottawa are denying all of the allegations in Cpl. Catherine Galliford's lawsuit. (CBC)"I didn’t complain. They’re right when they say that. I did not complain because when you go to someone to complain about harassment and abuse in the workplace, it’s almost as if they’re paying lip service," she said.
"There really isn’t an investigation and so I really didn’t think there was any point because I knew that if I complained about what was happening to me, I would become a target and my career would be over."
The response to civil claim goes on to say that even if the allegations are true, the acts were consensual — a statement Galliford denies.
"It was never consensual because it was always a person in a position of authority above me," she said.
"What I noticed over time is that these people who were my supervisors would try to get me in a place where they could do or say what they wanted and I was alone with them and they made sure that there were no other witnesses."
Galliford is seeking unspecified damages for loss of past and future income in addition to punitive and aggravated damages.
Her high-profile case is the latest in a growing list of legal actions against the Mounties alleging a culture of harassment inside the force.
With files from The Canadian PressShare Tools
Latest British Columbia News Headlines
- Nanaimo Facebook group takes aim at thieves
- Residents fed up with petty crime in Nanaimo have turned to social media to try to prevents theft. more »
- Bid to re-open Langley Speedway
- A Metro Vancouver committee is considering a proposal to re-open the Langley Speedway that closed almost three decades ago. more »
- Petition looks to rename Victoria Day
- A group that includes some prominent Canadian actors, writers and politicians is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to change the name of Victoria Day. more »
- NDP wants RCMP inquiry into $90K payment to Duffy
- The NDP has asked the RCMP to launch an investigation into the $90,000 payment from the prime minister's former top aide, Nigel Wright, to Senator Mike Duffy in relation to the Senate expense scandal. more »
Must Watch
Top News Headlines
- Unknown remains found on Dellen Millard's farm
- Police searching the farm of Dellen Millard, the 27-year-old charged with first-degree murder after the remains of Ancaster, Ont., man Tim Bosma were discovered, have found other remains on the property, but it's unclear if they are human or animal. more »
- Canadian on EI shut out amid foreign worker influx
- A jobless Canadian IT professional who is collecting employment insurance is upset because he now suspects several recent jobs he applied for went to temporary foreign workers. more »
- Can the Senate fire a senator?
- An expert on parliamentary rules says the Senate has the power to turf a senator from the chamber, as long as a majority approves the expulsion, and as long as there is cause. more »
- Nahlah Ayed: Vote-wary Iranians mull Ahmadinejad's successor
- Iranians go to the polls in less than four weeks to choose a new president. The reform movement is still smarting from its bitter defeat four years ago, but the jockeying for power is no less intense, Nahlah Ayed reports. more »
- Canadian on EI shut out amid foreign worker influx
- Vancouver man attacked, killed in Costa Rica
- Prince Andrew in Victoria for Highland Games
- East Vancouver residents in 'guerrilla gardening' campaign
- Thief robs, injures woman in wheelchair
- Jeep driver apologizes after stunt kills Edmonton woman
- Public raising funds to buy alleged Rob Ford crack video
- Rob Ford should resign if allegations true, councillors say
- Holmes Hydro can proceed without environmental assessment

