New documents in Leduc fire department lawsuit allege ‘hostile environment’

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GRAPHIC WARNING: This article contains details that readers may find disturbing

New details have emerged in an ongoing civil lawsuit against the City of Leduc as court documents detail allegations that women working as firefighters suffered systemic discrimination and sexual assault.

Affidavits from 10 women who worked for the Leduc Fire Services (LFS) and several reports commissioned by the city southwest of Edmonton to investigate the allegations were recently filed as part of the certification process for the class action.

In February 2022, a lawsuit was filed against the firefighters by two former female firefighters alleging physical and sexual assault, harassment and bullying on the job.

Leduc asked that the lawsuit be dismissed on the grounds that it should be referred to a labor arbitrator.

A hearing has been set for May, where a judge will decide whether the allegations can be the subject of a class action. The lawsuit has not been proven in court.

“HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT FOR WOMEN”

Robert Martz, a lawyer at Burnet, Buckworth & Palmer LLP, represents the plaintiffs and believes there may be more women who may come forward as the trial progresses.

“They’ve pursued this legal action in an effort to shed light on what happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Martz told CTV News Edmonton.

In 2021, the City of Leduc commissioned Veritas Solutions, an independent workplace investigator specializing in harassment and psychological safety, to conduct five investigations into how the incidents were handled by the fire department.

Initially, the city denied releasing the third-party probes, citing privacy law. Martz says they were “relevant” to the case and “an important piece” in helping the court understand the full extent of what was alleged.

“The evidence that emerges in the various allegations, information, complaints and evidence presented to our investigators,” one of the reports concludes, “points to both systemic and interpersonal misconduct related to gender-based discrimination and harassment and to sexual harassment.

“Indeed, the LFD (Leduc Fire Department) is a hostile environment for women.”

The city of Leduc told CTV News Edmonton on Friday that it was unable to comment on the lawsuit and related allegations because they are before the courts.

“BEHAVIORAL MODELS”

As Veritas investigators conducted interviews and reviewed evidence while assessing some of the allegations, they discovered “patterns of behavior” including a “spectrum of harassment” extending to sexual assault and mismanagement by persons in authority when responding to complaints.

“Over the past few years, the mishandling of serious complaints of sexual assault and harassment that have not been taken seriously or properly investigated has created a hostile work environment. or poisoned for some women,” one report read.

One incident reviewed by Veritas reported mismanagement by the LFS when a part-time firefighter was fired for sexual harassment but was allowed to attend a fundraiser in uniform.

According to the inquest, three female firefighters said he would smell their hair, touch their breasts and crotch “under the guise of measuring them for radio belts”. In one instance, he grabbed a female firefighter by the hips from behind and “faked sex”.

Veritas found “there was a lot of conflict” over her dismissal from the LFS, with “many male members” believing the allegations were fabricated.

Prior to a public fundraiser in Leduc, female LFS members were informed that the terminated member would not be permitted to attend. Despite this, he had been invited by a captain to attend and had posed in several photos of active fire crews.

The acting captain that day asked the service chief to tell him to leave, saying his presence made several other members uncomfortable. It took an order from the deputy chief for the former employee to leave, with the department chief and other members loudly opposing it, according to the Veritas report.

PROBLEMS WITH PERSONAL BOUNDARIES

One of the “significant contributors” to a negative work culture at LFS, discovered by Veritas, was disregard for physical and personal boundaries.

According to the report, several firefighters experienced inappropriate touching, a pair of sexual affairs and others reported sexual assaults.

A firefighter told Veritas the touching happened “frequently” and she wouldn’t describe it as consensual, “but it was ‘accepted.'”

“I got my ass grabbed by a captain,” she told Veritas. “I didn’t consent to it. And I wish he hadn’t. But that’s the way it is.”

She also referenced how male firefighters could sometimes be seen “slapping each other.”

“It’s consensual, because it’s a joke that they all have among themselves. And I don’t think it will ever end because that’s who they are.”

In another instance, a fellow female firefighter shared with Veritas how, while competing for a paramedic and advanced care firefighter position, a male LFS staff member exposed himself after asking what “her panties looked like”.

Several years later, this same woman who now worked with the department, walked the same man into the women’s dormitory and attempted to crawl into bed with her, the report said.

LACK OF SERIOUS ATTENTION TO COMPLAINTS

In another incident, Veritas concluded an allegation of mishandling of a reported sexual assault by LFS management and the city’s human resources department was founded.

After a female firefighter was sexually assaulted at an LFS member’s party, the Veritas Inquiry noted that she was then ‘bullied and coerced’ into complying with management’s directive to proceed to mediation instead of a formal investigation.

“[The female firefighter] gave in to get them to stop calling him,” the Veritas survey analysis said.

She told Veritas that management’s conduct “made her feel like she had no choice but to comply with the mediation,” especially as she was competing for a job at full time with LFS. This session was then led by the Fire Service Chaplain, although Veritas found there was “no evidence” that they had training or experience in mediation.

“The management of the Leduc Fire Department has demonstrated on several occasions that employees are discriminated against when complaints are filed”, concluded Veritas.

“[This creates] a work environment that is not safe from retaliation and free from condemnation.”

With files from Amanda Anderson and Sean Amato of CTV News Edmonton

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