Alberta woman launches $18M lawsuit in alleged sexual assault, wrongful dismissal from work camp

WARNING: This article contains graphic content and may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or know someone affected by it.

An Edmonton woman who alleges that she was sexually assaulted at a northern Alberta work camp, then fired for reporting the abuse, is suing her former employer and the man she holds responsible for the attack. 

Leah McLeod's $18-million lawsuit names ATCO, ATCO Frontec Corp. and Darrell Brian Tennant, a man who worked at the camp. The companies and Tennant deny all allegations and have called for the claim to be dismissed.

In 2008, McLeod was working as a cleaner at Barge Landing, north of Fort McMurray, when she reported to RCMP that she had been drugged and sexually assaulted by a camp cook.

McLeod, 44, said she is hoping for justice and to draw attention to the risk of sexual violence women face at remote work camps. She said that 16 years later, she still feels trapped by the trauma she endured.

"They discarded me," she said in an interview with CBC. "I just want accountability." 

Tennant, McLeod's alleged attacker, was criminally charged in the assault but found not guilty in 2021. Seven months after his acquittal, RCMP formally apologized to McLeod for not adequately investigating her claims, and for failing to consider and preserve key evidence at the outset of the case.

DNA was recovered from McLeod's body, but Tennant was not tested and found to be a match until a decade later. 

The case has seen police and the courts wrestle with issues of consent and the strength of DNA evidence when a victim's memory fails. McLeod's allegations ultimately triggered an internal RCMP probe that found police faltered in their initial investigation. 

McLeod got court permission to lift a publication ban on her name. 

The ordeal has changed her forever, McLeod said. 

"When that level of trauma happens, and that level of shame and guilt is placed on you, the world doesn't make sense any longer and it makes the world a really scary place," she said in an interview.

In her statement of claim, filed May 16 in Edmonton Court of King's Bench, McLeod seeks $14 million in damages from the companies, for wrongful termination and negligence. She is also seeking $4 million in damages from Tennant for sexual assault and battery. 

In a joint statement of defence, ATCO and ATCO Frontec deny the allegations and any liability. The companies say the assault was not formally reported and that the incident is alleged to have happened outside of work hours.