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By Jon Woodward - Toronto cop files $30M complaint against police association alleging it sided with sexual abusers
A Toronto police officer is coming forward with a decade-long trail of sexual harassment in the Toronto Police Service.
She’s claiming that same culture has also reached the Toronto Police Association and is seeking millions in compensation for allegedly failing to represent her. John Woodward joins us now with this CTV News. Exclusive more details on this case. John, what exactly are you hearing and what is she saying
In her complaint? Heather McWilliams at Constable says the TPA chose to side with her abusers instead. And in some cases, those abusers held association positions, performance appraisals that were all superior. That’s what performance reviews of Constable Heather McWilliams said about 10 years ago before she says repeated sexual harassment drove her into hiding. It took a tremendous toll. McWilliams’ lawyer Gary Bennett says, despite winning a human rights complaint against the Toronto Police Service, she’s still fighting.
It’s distressing. Think about everybody in your workplace ganging up against you or realizing that someone is harming you and just turning around and allowing it to happen.
McWilliams filed a duty affair representation complaint against the Toronto Police Association saying its representatives made, sexually charged comments about her body sexually assaulted her during a parade, propositioned her for a threesome, and when she turned them down, her career was sidelined according to the claim. Once said she had better be nice to him and the guys in the TPA in case one day she may need them because they only support financially those they know and like. When she asked the Association for Health Systemic sexual Discrimination, they were part of the problem. McWilliams is asking the Ontario Police Arbitration Commission to order the Toronto Police Association to repay her for years of legal fees, travel expenses, and punitive damages for fleeing what she calls mental torture. Altogether, the amount adds up to more than $30 million. The TPA hasn’t written a response to McWilliams application yet. It didn’t answer questions about McWilliams’ claims, but said all members deserve to come to work and be free from unwanted harassment or discrimination. We have a variety of processes that ensure all members are represented fairly and provided with their entitlements set out in our collective agreements. Even the Toronto Police Service has admitted it has a problem of systemic sexism. In a report earlier this year that said harassment and discrimination are regular occurrences, sexual assault experts say that’s a start, but a general response isn’t enough.
If you want to prevent sexual violence, have a process in place that really holds offenders accountable. It happens to police women every day.
Bennett said he hopes this application moves the situation for female police officers forward. Though it has a long way to go. The TPA confirmed to us it’s facing three total complaints on how it’s represented its members in allegations of sexual discrimination filed so far, but not adjudicated. We’ve learned one of those was filed in the last two weeks and we’ll have more on that tomorrow. Reporting live. I’m John Woodward, back to you.
Alright, thank you John. And if you have a story idea for CTV News investigates, please let us know. You can email investigate@ctv.ca or visit our website for more secure and anonymous ways to get in touch.
EXCLUSIVE from me: Explosive allegations from a Toronto officer that her association reps actively sexually harassed and assaulted her -- and the association protected them.
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