City seeks to toss ex-cop’s lawsuit

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This article was published 08/08/2023 (1078 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg has asked the Court of King’s Bench to toss a lawsuit filed by a retired officer who alleges the Winnipeg Police Service has a toxic workplace.

PKF Lawyers of Winnipeg filed the suit on June 28 on behalf of former police constable Belinda Duncan, who took early retirement in April 2022.

Duncan’s claim centres around her application to be transferred to the WPS community relations diversity section in December 2017, which was rejected. She is suing over the force’s handling of complaints filed against her and her attempts at filing grievances.

Duncan, a woman of colour who became an officer in 2000, alleges she was passed over for junior officers. Duncan’s court papers said the WPS human resources director told Duncan all three spoke a second language, which is why they were selected.

City of Winnipeg legal services director Douglas Brown filed a notice of motion in late July, seeking to have Duncan’s suit struck from the court.

Brown is asking for the court to grant the city costs for filing the motion.

Brown wrote that Duncan’s statement of claim is frivolous and an abuse of process of the court. Further, he wrote that Duncan’s claims are under the jurisdiction of a labour arbitrator.

Alternatively, Brown argued Duncan’s claim does not disclose a reasonable cause of action for her assertion she was constructively dismissed from the police service.

The alleged furor over her failed transfer to another unit resulted in an “intolerable workplace,” Duncan argued in her court papers, leaving her “forced to retire.”

In court filings, the city disputes her assertion she was made to retire.

The affidavit of a city legal assistant, filed in the lawsuit along with Brown’s notice of motion, includes a March 2022 email from another city lawyer to Duncan’s counsel.

“On my review of Belinda’s retirement letters and her conduct, I was left a bit confused since they all indicate that Belinda has resigned from the WPS, but she simultaneously appears to allege that she is being forced to resign,” reads the March 29 email from City of Winnipeg lawyer Michael Gerstein to Israel Ludwig, Duncan’s lawyer.

“The WPS wants to make it clear to Belinda that she is not being forced to resign.”

Gerstein advised Ludwig that Duncan would be able to rescind her resignation and resume discussions about her return to work.

The city’s motion is scheduled to be heard on Aug. 17.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca