.jpg;w=120;h=120;mode=crop){kind=avatar}
A former West Vancouver police officer is among six women who have launched a proposed class action lawsuit against 13 municipal governments, alleging they were subjected to sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination while on the job.
Cary Ryan worked as a police officer in the West Vancouver Police Department from 2004 to 2009.
Ryan and the five other current and former municipal police officers allege in court documents filed Oct. 11 in B.C. Supreme Court that they experienced “gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination, harassment and bullying by other officers and management” at their workplace and that the governments they worked for failed to stop it.
As a result, the women have suffered “serious physical and psychological damages, out-of-pocket expenses and loss of income” the lawsuit alleges.
The court documents name the District of West Vancouver, along with 12 other communities with municipal police forces, including Abbotsford, Central Saanich, Delta, Esquimalt, Nelson, New Westminster, Oak Bay, Port Moody, Saanich, Surrey, Vancouver and Victoria.
Among the allegations in the lawsuit are that Ryan was subjected to harassment including “unwanted sexual touching and comments in the workplace” and “invitations for sex with co-workers” as well as to “graphic misogynistic photographs” of women.
When she complained to West Vancouver Police Department bosses about the harassment, she was told to “drop her complaints,” she alleges in the lawsuit. On other occasions, Ryan was asked to sign a document which described her complaints as “emotional,” the court documents allege.
Ryan was later diagnosed with clinical depression and left the force.
“My story is not unique,” Ryan said in an interview after the lawsuit was filed this week. “This is about the collective experience of policewomen in B.C.
“It’s been happening for decades,” she said.
Unwanted sexual touching and comments
One Vancouver police officer named in the court documents alleges she was sent an explicit video in an email by a fellow officer and was routinely “fined” for minor or perceived infractions, which included demeaning domestic tasks like waiting on other officers.
Another Vancouver police officer stated in the lawsuit a poster containing her photograph appeared in the forensic identification unit in August 2023 with the caption “swabbing penises for over 50 years.”
One former female Delta police officer alleges she was subjected to unwanted sexual touching and comments in the workplace and was also frequently compelled to play a game of ‘would you rather’ where questions of a sexual nature were asked of her.
Another officer, with the Central Saanich Police Services, said in the lawsuit she was exposed to routine ‘jokes’ about oral sex and was “frequently touched” on her buttocks by fellow officers.
A former New Westminster police officer said she was called a “hot mama” and had comments about her “childbearing hips” made by a male officer.
The women allege in the lawsuit that when they complained, they were subjected to retaliatory abuse, something Ryan alleges was part of her experience at the West Vancouver Police Department.
Women allege being passed over for promotions
The women allege while working for the municipal police departments, they were treated differently from male officers, including being subject to sexually explicit comments, and comments dismissing their ability to do their jobs. They were also denied promotions, transfers to more desirable policing units, shifts or positions and passed over for complex files and tasks, in favour of their male colleagues, the lawsuit alleges.
In allowing the harassment to continue, and failing to enforce policies to prevent it, the municipalities named in the lawsuit – as well as the Attorney General and Minister of Public Safety – failed to minimize risk to the female police officers and permitted a workplace environment and culture that normalized the occurrence of gender- and sexual orientation-based harassment and discrimination,” the lawsuit alleges.
“We all want to hold accountable these government authorities, who we’re saying have not fulfilled their contractual duty to provide us and the class members with a work environment that’s free of bullying,” said Ryan.
The women are seeking to have the lawsuit certified as a class action, which would allow other female officers to join the suit if they have experienced harassment on the job. Before the case can move ahead as a class action, however, a judge has to approve the lawsuit after hearing from lawyers on both sides.
Municipalities allowed harmful culture to continue, lawsuit alleges
“The systemic nature of the harms committed by most or all of the defendants … is such that the questions of fact and law arising from these common issues overshadows the individual issues,” according to the lawsuit.
“The systemic decisions and priorities which created the specific culture of the police departments” were a “flagrant and vexatious pattern of behaviour on an institutional level” the lawsuit alleges.
Ryan, who has since moved to Nova Scotia, said her experience eventually drove her to quit policing.
“It’s either quit, or you kill yourself. And honestly, I did find myself in that place,” she said. “And I quit out of self-preservation.”
Ryan said the women launching the suit are seeking damages. But they are also hoping for bigger changes.
“We need legislative change; we need policy change. It’s 2023. This is women’s rights. This is violence against women. And we need these politicians not to turn a blind eye to this.… We know our experiences aren’t unique. These are the experiences of women in policing, in municipal police departments in B.C, and enough is enough.”
In a statement, the District of West Vancouver said, “As this matter is before the courts, we will not be commenting at this time.”
Ryan previously filed a B.C. Human Rights complaint about her treatment at the West Vancouver Police Department. But in 2015 the tribunal rejected that on technical grounds, saying Ryan had waited too long to file her complaint.
