Female Mountie passed over for promotion takes force to court

A female RCMP officer is taking the force to court after she claims she was passed over for a promotion, violating a settlement she'd reached with the police service.

A veteran member of the RCMP has applied to the Federal Court for a judicial review challenging a promotion decision made by her superiors. Sgt. Jill Swann told Global News the court challenge follows years of harassment.

“It impacts people around you, your home life, your activities, your occupied thoughts, your energy,” she said.

In 2017 Swann filed a civil suit alleging the RCMP failed to provide a safe workplace.

Alleged harassment against her included a supervisor sending her condoms after the birth of her child, calling her “meth face” and commenting about her weight.

In the settlement of her civil claim and a parallel human rights complaint, the RCMP agreed to give Swann priority entitlement to a promotion to a sergeant rank in a non-general duty position on Vancouver Island, say the statements of fact filed by both parties in Federal Court.

But when she applied for sergeant position with the Federal Serious and Organized Crime (FSOC) unit, she didn’t get the job despite meeting the requirements, according to her lawyer Sebastien Anderson.

“Sex discrimination in the RCMP has not been eradicated,” Anderson told Global News. “Swann was denied a promotional opportunity that she should have had by applying criteria that the decision-maker just made up. They were not in the job description, and she should have had priority entitlement to the position in accordance with the settlement.”

In documents filed in Federal Court in response to Swann’s claim, the federal government and RCMP claim the promotion decision was impartial and based on merit.