STORY 16

I’ve been a police officer for more than 10 years. I reported sexual harassment and discrimination over the years to my employer and was told over and over again to “not be that girl”. Several years ago, I went off sick and was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression by several Drs. I filed a human rights complaint and my union refused to help, forcing me to sell my home to pay for lawyers. All the men I complained about, and provided evidence of their abuse, go free.

Myself and other colleagues hired a lawyer and 6 months later we walked into mediation. Our own lawyer was nasty and abusive for 2 days telling us “nobody cares about women in policing”.

My colleagues and myself were offered continued base salary for several years, an upfront payment and a NDA. We were told that we can never work in policing or talk about what happened to anyone or we would be sued. My colleagues were exhausted and took the offer but I refused to resign with no investigation into the sexual violence I reported. My lawyer then gave me a bill for several hundred thousand dollars and within 2 weeks was demanding his money. I had to hire another lawyer and took him to court!

He kept emailing me threatening to sue me and shaming me, knowing how my mental health was deteriorating. I was successful and the bill got reduced significantly but the judge is making me pay the lawyer’s legal fees.

My employer tried to silence me again recently at mediation. They offered me more money upfront with the NDA but again refused to investigate the sexual violence I endured and so I refused.

I’m being retaliated against now with bogus investigations and I’m facing reprisals. My union is dodging my human rights lawyer emails and I’m fighting alone.