Mountie suing RCMP over probe into top-secret Ottawa operation
Claim alleges top officers destroyed career, reputation after real estate deal
The Mountie who was in charge of the force’s surveillance and coverttech unit is suing the RCMP, and its top officers, for allegedly destroying his career and reputation by wrongly targeting him in a politically charged investigation over his role in a real estate deal to secure a front for a top-secret operation in Ottawa’s east end.
In the $1.2-million statement of claim, Supt. Mike Gaudreau says RCMP Deputy Commissioner Doug Lang and other top officers, including ex-commissioner William Elliott, deliberately abused their office and authority by investigating false claims that he concealed his relationship with the real estate agent who collected a commission on the $3-million RCMP lease deal.
But according to Gaudreau’s statement of claim, filed in Ontario Superior Court on Dec. 20, the senior Mountie not only disclosed his personal relationship with the real estate agent — then his girlfriend — but made it clear he would not be playing “any direct role in the selection of the covert facility, remaining at arm’s length.”
The Ottawa RCMP superintendent is still facing internal charges of disgraceful conduct because of the allegation, and will be fighting to clear his name at his disciplinary hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
Gaudreau’s 30 years in the Mounties fits the force’s recruiting slogan “A Career Nowhere Near Ordinary,” with him becoming the force’s expert on covert operations after years in drug and organized-crime units, including three years spent undercover full-time, and living at a covert house in Montreal that also served as the undercover unit’s office. He went on to be the officer in charge of the RCMP’s Ottawa drug section, then assistant crime-ops officer in charge of the national organized crime and border security unit.
Gaudreau’s last post before being removed from office was director of the Technical Investigation Services Branch, a plain name for the force’s covert operations unit which includes the special entry section and the surveillance and covert technology section. These are the secretive RCMP units that don’t normally make the press even though the national police force’s research and development considers it a top priority for funding.
It was one of the force’s top-secret projects that landed Gaudreau in trouble even though he says in court filings that he did everything by the book. It all started in 2009 when someone in his special entry section proposed an undercover operation called Project RAVE. The covert operation, approved by headquarters in March 2009, included plans to secure a commercial property to be used as a business front for the top-secret operation in Ottawa’s east end. The operational plan, which was a priority for funding, also included fake bank accounts.
But months after the plan was approved, the Mounties were still having trouble finding a suitable commercial property with a residential real estate agent. That’s when, according to Gaudreau’s statement of claim, he mentioned that he knew a commercial real estate agent. He says that he disclosed she was his girlfriend at the time, and stayed at arm’s length from the deal, and more, says in court documents that the RCMP did a background check on her.
Gaudreau also says in court filings that the RCMP pursued an investigation against him even though they learned from the outset that he did not conceal his relationship with the agent.
‘His children have been embarrassed and humiliated and his relationships with family members, friends and colleagues have suffered greatly.’
STATEMENT OF CLAIM
Since the allegation surfaced, Gaudreau says his world has collapsed around him. His physical health deteriorated to the point that he was forced on medical leave and has sought counselling for his emotional stress that made him the object of contempt and ridicule, according to court filings.
“His children have been embarrassed and humiliated and his relationships with family members, friends and colleagues have suffered greatly,” the statement of claim says.
The lawsuit also alleges that top Mounties, including the ex-commissioner, failed to safeguard his reputation and failed to apprise him about any information about his disciplinary case that was “leaked” to the Citizen in 2011. Gaudreau also says senior officers “furnished” statements to the Citizen with “reckless disregard for the truth,” according to his statement of claim.
The statement of claim also says that his Notice of Disciplinary Hearing, dated Jan. 11, 2011, had a security classification of “Secret,” but still ended up on the front page of the Citizen. In turn, Gaudreau, according to his court filing, requested an investigation into the Citizen leak. “These statements could only have been leaked to the (Citizen), by an internal (RCMP) source, and with the intention of discrediting and injuring the plaintiff,” says the statement of claim, filed by his lawyer Louise Morel.
Two days after a Feb. 5, 2011, Citizen story about Gaudreau, Lang, the RCMP deputy commissioner, oversaw a question period note for Public Safety Minister Vic Toews about the “leak,” according to court filings. In his statement of claim, Gaudreau says the briefing addressed the internal discipline process but failed to address “the serious issue of secret RCMP information being leaked to the media and what, if any, steps the RCMP was taking to investigate this breach of security.”
The statement of claim by the RCMP’s covert-ops expert then cites another Citizen story saying “another front page article revealing secret and sensitive information on the matter.”
Gaudreau says he is now “tainted” and considered “untrustworthy” because of the allegation and says the Mounties have compromised his future employment opportunities. The superintendent is still on the force and will be defending his unblemished career at the upcoming disciplinary hearing.
None of these claims have been proven in court, and the RCMP has not yet filed a statement of defence.