B.C. Mountie takes RCMP to court over dismissal of harassment complaint
Global News
Const. Nicole Patapoff says the RCMP agency created to address harassment in the wake of a multi-million dollar settlement failed her in a recent complaint.
A eight-year veteran of the RCMP is challenging the Mounties in federal court.
In a court filing, Const. Nicole Patapoff claims she was harassed and the case mishandled by the RCMP’s Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution, an agency that is supposed to promote positive change, especially for female members.
In the court filing, Patapoff references her annual firearms qualification training.
During the training, she alleges her line officer told her “to go home, get a bottle of Windex, and get into her kitchen and bathroom and just start cleaning” to strengthen her trigger finger.
She claims the officer followed her outside, commenting, ”I didn’t even recognize you”, ”Wow,” and ”I love your hair.”
Patapoff’s complaint to the RCMP’s Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution wasn’t investigated for 10 months.
It then deemed the incident wasn’t harassment, just a poor choice of words, and that no harm was intended.
“This was a decision that was made by a federally-appointed harassment investigator and so the recourse in this situation is to seek judicial review of the investigator’s decision,” Patapoff’s lawyer, Sebastien Anderson, told Global News.