Thunder Bay, Ont., police board member files new complaint alleging racism, attempts to oust her
CBC
A member of the Thunder Bay Police Services Board announced Monday she's taking a month's leave of absence and has filed her third Ontario human rights complaint since October.
The complaint, by former board chair Georjann Morriseau, includes further allegations of racism and reprisal.
Morriseau told CBC News she's taking the month's leave of absence due to the ongoing issues she's having with the police board, to concentrate on the ongoing court proceedings and her immediate family needs.
Morriseau is seeking $50,000 in compensation from both current board chair Kristen Oliver and secretary John Hannam, as well as $100,000 from each other respondent, including the City of Thunder Bay, the board and the public relations firm KPW Communications.
Morriseau's lawyer, Chantelle Bryson, claims the impact that escalating events dating back to 2020 have had on her client has been "beyond description," including an emotional toll that has resulted in economic losses and reputational harm.
"They're doing these things in knowingly bad faith, without legal authority, and it's one thing after another," Bryson said.
Morriseau, former chief of Fort William First Nation, an Ojibway First Nation, filed her first complaint last fall based on the police service's response to an August 2020 incident, when she was approached by a man claiming to be an officer who had evidence of another officer potentially leaking information.
Morriseau alleges she subsequently became the subject of an Ontario Provincial Police investigation that ultimately cleared her of any wrongdoing.
None of the claims in Morriseau's previous Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) complaints or those of nine officers and two civilian employees have yet been tested in court.
The latest complaint alleges board members and their secretary have been illegally attempting to remove Morriseau since October, barring her from attending virtual news conferences, deliberately damaging her reputation, taking strategic actions without board approval, and refusing to add Morriseau's items (including her concerns for her own safety) to meeting agendas.
"The board and the City of Thunder Bay have not met with [Morriseau] to address her concerns, they haven't called for an investigation of these serious concerns," Bryson said. "What they have done instead is to perpetually attack her in every single board meeting alleging wrongdoing on her behalf, which is completely illegitimate and false."
In response to the complaint, KPW issued a written statement on behalf of Oliver to CBC News on Monday.
"We remain open to working with member Morriseau collaboratively to focus on the important work of transforming the police service and rebuilding trust with the community," Oliver's statement read.
Bryson claimed board members and their secretary have publicly inferred, without evidence, that Morriseau leaked privileged information to the Globe and Mail.
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