MINISTER ‘NOT PROUD AS WOMAN OR ALBERTAN’ AFTER POLICE REPORT
Deputy premier Sarah Hoffman is displeased, to put it gently, about harassment and intimidation allegations in the Calgary Police Service, especially the cases with women as victims.
“What I read from the story certainly doesn’t make me proud as a woman or as an Albertan,” she said of the confidential report made public by the Postmedia Monday.
It detailed how women have felt devalued and stalled in their careers, and some have been sexually harassed.
In Herald interviews with victims, one said seven male officers emailed her photos of their genitals after she worked shifts with them.
Asked if the revelations pain her — as deputy premier of Canada’s most female government, with a newly established status of women ministry — Hoffman said: “You’re right, you’re absolutely right.
“I think the Calgary Police Service certainly has a lot of work to do. I understand that they’ve made some progress, but they’re not at the point where everyone feels safe in the workplace.
“So I accept that they will continue to make efforts to get to that point.”
But she says people who don’t feel safe taking complaints to their superiors should go to the province.
“If anyone is in a position where they don’t feel comfortable coming forward to file a formal complaint within their employment structure, they certainly have a right to approach it through the Alberta Human Rights Act, and can file a complaint in that regard.”
As for the province, she said: “We’re working at (harassment) from a policy perspective but it’s not going to happen overnight. There are some systemic issues that are going to be addressed.”
It’s easy to pass over such airy political statements, but nobody should underestimate the NDP’s determination to act on harassment, bullying and intimidation.
That could include direct provincial intervention in public structures with toxic cultures — even a police force.
If this has been going on under the nose of city authorities … well, somebody will have to deal with it. And the province has clear authority to intervene.
Hoffman also said, “at this point, it’s probably a bit of stretch” to connect workplace stress with the recent incidents of Calgary police use of force and service weapons.
But she added: “I do know what when you feel respected in your job, it’s easier to do your job … I don’t want to diminish what some of these workers are probably feeling.”
The author of the report, Calgary lawyer Deborah Prowse, said she was “caught unaware” by its appearance in the Herald. “I can’t discuss the details because of confidentiality requirements that were part of the work.”
But we can be confident about the accuracy and honesty of her conclusions.
Prowse has worked to protect people caught up in big systems ever since her mother was one of two patients killed by a potassium chloride injection at the Foothills Hospital.
Kathleen Prowse died in 2004 when staff mistook containers with the deadly poison for ordinary saline solution. A long, elaborate inquiry found that containers for the two solutions were almost identical.
Prowse made it her mission to ensure nothing like that ever happened again.
She later served on the province’s Health Quality Council, advocating for patient safety. In 2014, the Progressive Conservatives made her the province’s official health advocate.
At no point in her report does Prowse say the “bad behaviour” she details is widespread in the force. The human resources section, the focus of the study, generally performs well. But there were worrisome tendencies and incidents revolving around “the Old Boys Network” and the dominance of some officers.
Some victims, especially women, were afraid to report harassment. The perpetrators often warned victims that there would be a price to pay. Often, those perpetrators would get the promotions.
In these instances “the culture is one of fear and intimidation,” Prowse reports.
This problem has to be tackled vigorously. An organization that tolerates cruelty toward its own people will eventually treat outsiders even worse. That would be all the rest of us.