Mountie alleges retaliation by RCMP

Female officer faces discipline

At a time when the RCMP is touting new measures for dealing with harassment, the force is being accused of retaliating against a female Mountie who complained that she was sexually assaulted and harassed on the job.

Karen Katz, a constable in British Columbia who has been on leave from the RCMP for five years because of post-traumatic stress and has filed two lawsuits against the force, says the RCMP launched a code of conduct investigation against her this summer over a dispute she had with another resident in her apartment building.

According to an internal RCMP memo that she obtained through access-to-information laws, senior RCMP officials stated that, “if the matter reaches the media the RCMP could be portrayed as attempting to punish Cst. Katz for her negative opinion of the organization.”

“This is just another witch hunt and the RCMP is trying to punish me and/or retaliate against me with this Code of Conduct investigation,” Katz wrote in a letter to Postmedia News.

Sgt. Rob Vermeulen, an RCMP spokesman in B.C., said Monday: “We will reserve our comment for the appropriate venue, which is the courtroom, where evidence is provided and subject to crossexamination before a trier of fact.”

Katz filed two civil claims against the RCMP in 2012. One lawsuit alleges she was subjected to harassment throughout her career. The other alleged that a male member of the force engaged in a pattern of “erratic physical conduct” toward her, including slamming his chest against her, giving her bear hugs and rubbing his body against her. (Her lawsuits are separate from a proposed class-action lawsuit now involving more than 300 current and former female members of the RCMP who allege systemic harassment and discrimination within the force.)

In 2013, Katz received written notice that the force was moving to dismiss her because it could not find suitable accommodations for her anywhere within the organization. At the time, Katz accused the force of retaliating against her.

Now, Katz is accusing the force of retaliation again after receiving notification in September that the RCMP had launched a code of conduct investigation against her. It is alleged that between January and April of this year, Katz, while off duty, conducted herself in a “disgraceful manner that could bring discredit on the force” by identifying herself as a peace officer and using inappropriate language when speaking to another resident in her apartment complex. It is also alleged that she used her position as an officer to intimidate that resident.

The RCMP memo obtained by Katz stated that investigators in North Vancouver, where she lives, determined that there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal charge against her. The detachment still forwarded details to the professional standards unit to decide whether to pursue a code of conduct investigation.

“If the RCMP is so concerned about RCMP members conducting themselves in a disgraceful manner … then they seriously need to look at how they are handling harassment within the RCMP,” she wrote in her letter.

Federal public safety officials say they have implemented measures to respond to harassment allegations in a timely and fair manner. They held a news conference in Ottawa on Monday to announce that changes to the RCMP Act aimed at improving accountability and modernizing the force’s human resources management — including dealing with misconduct, harassment and grievance matters — had come into force.

The changes also include an updated RCMP Code of Conduct, which now names harassment as a specific contravention.