A DISPUTE OVER RANK
Police policy challenged
Staff Sgt. Christine Bissonnette continued to lay out the parameters of her human rights’ complaint on Wednesday including allegations of gender bias, discrimination, ageism and harassment against senior ranks of the Windsor Police Service. Bissonnette, a 31-year-veteran of the force, scored an early victory in her presentation when a ruling by Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario adjudicator Bruce Best allowed a conversation she recorded with former Deputy Chief Rick Derus after she had been passed over for promotion. Bissonnette then spent the next four hours entering into evidence a blizzard of documents, emails and written notes from conversations. Bissonnette’s human rights complaint alleges she was unfairly passed over for promotion to inspector in 2015 and 2016, claiming she was just as qualified as the men who received the upgrade. “There’s a glass ceiling for women,” Bissonnette told the tribunal. As Police Chief Al Frederick and Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens looked on, Bissonnette painted a picture of a promotional system that favoured junior officers and males.
She said until she filed her human rights complaint, there were no female officers above the rank of staff sergeant. There is now a female inspector and a deputy chief. “(Insp. Rick) Facciolo came back from a meeting (June 5, 2015) and spoke of a new promotion process and policy,” Bissonnette said of the shift in preference to junior officers.
“As of result of the meeting, administration indicated: take junior people for promotion because they could be trained. It was discriminatory against older members like myself.”
Bissonnette pointed out she was ranked eighth on the 2015 promotions list and in 2016 she finished sixth in her bid for promotion. “I was the only female candidate and I finished last in 2016,” Bissonnette said.
“I was the most senior officer on the list.”
Since filing her human rights complaint, Bissonnette claimed she has faced a steady stream of reprisals.
“It’s a toxic environment,” said Bissonnette, who is currently on leave.
Windsor Police Service lawyer Suzanne Porter raised objections Wednesday to the voluminous mix of opinion and evidence being presented at the hearing. “Some of these remarks are quite inflammatory,” Porter interjected on one occasion when Bissonnette read notes from a conversation with a male inspector to illustrate the difficult culture women operate in. “What is the relevance of this to this complaint?”
Best was tolerant of the wideranging presentation, but warned Bissonnette that he needed evidence to back up notebook documentation and other opinionbased conclusions.
On more than one issue, he deferred ruling on whether he would accept some items as evidence. One area of contention as the hearing moves forward is the Windsor Police Service’s new promotional policy, which is weighted one-third each on an interview, written submission and peer review.
Bissonnette spent much of the afternoon battering the new policy as fundamentally flawed. “They admitted this was a pilot project that produced some things that were unforeseen and they were going to address them after I brought attention to them when I asked for a review of my situation,” she said. “Nothing was ever changed.” Bissonnette claimed there is no consistency to the policy.
She had 21 evaluators for her review, seven of whom she never worked with or were even in the same department. She claimed other candidates had as many as 32 evaluators. Bissonnette also took issue with the written portion of the evaluation. She claimed some candidates
I was the only female candidate and I finished last in 2016. I was the most senior officer on the list. It’s a toxic environment,
had been given an edge because they had been picked to be in special training to be evaluators or had been advised on how to write to score more effectively. “There were others of us who didn’t get that advantage,” she said. “There has to be consistency in all areas of the policy, so everyone is judged fairly.”
The hearing will continue Thursday with another session set aside for Sept. 13.