Ex-officer loses appeal over tweets
Provincial watchdog upholds termination over ‘reprehensible’ comments posted on social media
An Ontario police watchdog has upheld the firing of a female Toronto police officer who was terminated after launching a “libellous” online campaign about workplace sexual harassment and racism inside the service — a decision the ex-officer maintains she’ll fight.
In a written ruling, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission (OCPC) tossed ex-cop Firouzeh Zarabi-Majd’s appeal of her rare firing, upholding the decision to terminate her for “reprehensible” comments made on social media and dismissing concerns it could have a chilling effect on whistleblowing within policing.
“We are satisfied, in the circumstances of this case, the findings of misconduct were necessary to protect public confidence in policing,” a panel of three OCPC adjudicators wrote in their April 4 decision.
Zarabi-Majd’s case attracted controversy after she began speaking out about sexual harassment and racism she said she experienced in a decade on the job. She was eventually fired, in part for her dispatches from “Dirty Shades of Blue,” her account on X, formerly Twitter. There, she posted racist group text messages from her colleagues and name-called politicians and police leaders she alleged were complicit in workplace sexual harassment — messages the tribunal called “libellous,” “harmful” and “vulgar.”
The ex-officer has maintained her tweets were the last resort of a whistle-blowing cop on leave from a toxic workplace. “This isn’t over,” Zarabi-Majd told the Star in an interview Monday. “It’s not over until the truth is fully exposed and the system is changed.”
The case has played out against the backdrop of rising concerns over sexual harassment within Toronto police and the profession more broadly. In 2022, a workplace culture review by consulting firm Deloitte found “a clear perception” that harassment and discrimination, including unwanted sexual advances, regularly occur within Toronto police. In 2020, Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal found a female constable was sexually harassed for years by her supervisors.
A Toronto police spokesperson declined to comment on the case Monday. A spokesperson for the Toronto police board said it could not comment due to ongoing legal proceedings.
Zarabi-Majd says she intends to file a judicial review of the OCPC decision while her other cases are progressing, including a complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and a separate claim alleging she has not been fairly represented by her union, the Toronto Police Association.
Jon Reid, president of the police union, said in a statement Monday that the union was reviewing the OCPC decision and noted the TPA “has provided support to Cst. Zarabi-Majd during the employer’s discipline process, including in her appeal.”
Zarabi-Majd told the Star that she has since heard from other female officers who are now second-guessing their next moves. She maintains that speaking out online was the right thing to do. “These are times that we need to start standing up to change the system through whatever it takes,” she said Monday.