The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has rejected the complaint of a former West Vancouver police officer who claimed the force discriminated against her, saying the former officer filed her documents too late.
In her complaint, Cary Ryan said she began to experience mental illness in June 2008, which resulted in her being “ostracized, harassed and bullied” until she eventually resigned from the department in October 2009.
The tribunal typically does not accept complaints based on incidents that happened more than six months in the past. Ryan filed hers in March of this year, leading the police department’s lawyer to request the file be dismissed. Rather than weighing the merits of the complaint, the tribunal only considered whether to allow it to proceed so far beyond the six-month time frame.
In her submission to the tribunal, Ryan said she waited so long to file her complaint because the psychological impact of the alleged discrimination resulted in her being unable to come forward earlier.
The department’s response noted Ryan did not make an internal harassment complaint and that a review of her file determined her allegations were not substantiated. It went on to state that Ryan has since pursued advanced education and a new career, suggesting her mental illness posed no barrier to filing the complaint sooner.
Individual witnesses are also no longer with the department, the police force noted. Ryan opted not to submit a further reply.
In his decision to reject the complaint, tribunal chairman Bernd Walter wrote the five-and-a-half year delay in filing the complaint represents “an extreme delay and weighs heavily against finding acceptance of the complaint would be in the public interest.
“Frankly, I am unaware of any case in which the tribunal has accepted such an extremely late filed complaint,” he added.
Walter noted that Ryan provided no medical evidence of her disability or what treatment she received.
Kash Heed was the department’s chief constable at the time. An internal report from 2013 found morale in the department was tanking in the years that followed and several officers came forward with allegations of bullying, sexism and harassment within the force.
