Union asked to pay officer’s legal fees
THURSDAY, SECTION GT Sgt. alleging sexual harassment by partner fears her human rights hearing will be costly
The Toronto sergeant alleging she was sexually harassed by her former police partner is appealing to the union to pay her legal fees, anticipating a lengthy and pricey hearing at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.
Sgt. Jessica McInnis, who has nearly 20 years with Toronto Police, has asked the Toronto Police Association (TPA) to cover the costs associated with her ongoing human rights complaint against the police service board, Chief Mark Saunders and specific officers, including her former partner, Det. Mark Morris.
“I have always been mindful of the association’s motto that (it) is the voice of all members and that it is dedicated to promoting and protecting members’ rights through strong representation to improve their safety and quality of life,” McInnis wrote in a letter to TPA president Mike McCormack last month, requesting that the union cover her legal fees.
McCormack told the Star Wednesday the union does not publicly discuss funding for individual cases, and would not
“She’s trying to hold up her end . . . but it’s overwhelming for one person.” BARRY SWADRON COMPLAINANT’S LAWYER
confirm whether McInnis’ fees may or may not be covered.
But speaking generally, McCormack said the TPA does not typically cover fees for human rights tribunal cases.
The kinds of legal costs it does cover include internal discipline and professional misconduct charges.
And officers can also apply for coverage for some criminal matters, McCormack said.
Contrary to an allegation made in McInnis’ letter to him, McCormack said the TPA would not be covering the legal fees for the officers named in the human rights complaint, including Morris, because those fees are covered by the police service.
Barry Swadron, McInnis’ lawyer, said his client is willing to try mediation, which would limit the costs, but anticipates it may go to a hearing.
“She’s trying to hold up her end at her job, she’s doing paid duty so she can support herself in this, but it’s overwhelming for one person,” Swadron said.
A Legal Aid Ontario spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that it does not offer funding for cases at the human rights tribunal.
McInnis, 43, filed a human rights complaint last year, alleging sexual harassment and discrimination within the Toronto police. Among her claims is that Morris, with whom she worked in downtown’s 14 Division, sent her a “steady barrage of unsolicited sexist, sexual, harassing and obscene messages.”
McInnis wrote in her letter to McCormack that when she complained to supervisors, they were “unsympathetic, either sanctioning Morris’s sexually harassing behaviour or initiating or threatening reprisals against me.”
David Butt, Morris’ lawyer, has called the allegations against his client “false or deliberately misleading” and said they will be vigorously contested in the appropriate legal forum.
Constance Backhouse, a law professor at the University of Ottawa who studies gender discrimination and human rights, said it would be “hard-pressed” to have the union shoulder the fees in this case — although she said it would be a different story if she had filed a union grievance, which may have gone to arbitration.
“It’s not what’s traditionally done,” she said of a union paying legal fees at a human rights tribunal. “It doesn’t mean there isn’t a role for them, it’s just not how the system has worked in the past.”
Generally, she said the union and the police service should be working towards change on a systemic level.
“I just think that we should be thinking bigger about the fact that we need to resolve these problems, not just in a long, drawn-out individualized complaint,” Backhouse said.
In response to McInnis’ claim, Toronto police board member Shelley Carroll last month asked Saunders for a detailed report on Toronto police’s sexual-harassment policies.
Saunders agreed to provide a report at April’s board meeting, but stressed there is continuous training on sexual-harassment policies “from the employment level right through to supervision, all ranks, all levels.”
Last week, as part of internal discipline, McInnis was docked eight hours’ pay for participating in group chats that she handed over as part of her sexual-harassment complaint against Morris.
She had provided the group chats, sent on messaging app WhatsApp, to the Toronto police professional standards unit, saying it was evidence of her harassment. However, she was punished for participating in the chats and failing to report them sooner, according to Swadron. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca.