The amount of public cases of police officers using the power of their position to sexually harass and assault women continues to mount. Below is a snapshot of this chilling phenomenon.
- CBC: In 2024, two officers with the Central Saanich Police Service — Matthew Ball, 43, and Ryan Johnston, 40 — were charged with one count each of sexual assault and Ball with one additional count of breach of trust. The police force investigating the allegations said that: “Current evidence suggests that each officer formed separate, intimate and inappropriate relationships with the woman at different times after meeting her during the course of their duties.”
↩︎ - CBC: In 2024, retired Lethbridge police officer and former head of a victims’ advocacy group, Bill Kaye, pleaded guilty to breach of trust, admitting to a sexual relationship with a client who’d sought his help as a domestic violence victim. He was originally charged with sexual assault, criminal harassment and breach of trust by a public officer. The first two charges were withdrawn after his plea. ↩︎
- CTV: In 2024, the South Simcoe Police Service said it received a complaint last October from the Office of the Independent Police Review Director alleging that Const. Paul Catling, a 15-year veteran officer, sexually assaulted a woman. He has been charged with discreditable conduct following the allegation. The SIU’s probe determined it couldn’t proceed with criminal charges, a Police Services Act investigation was warranted. ↩︎
- CTV: Edmonton Police Service Constable Hunter Robinz was charged with sexual assault, as well as unauthorized use of a computer data base and two counts of breach of trust, in 2020. A 24-year-old woman said Robinz assaulted her in July 2019 after he visited her home while on duty and in uniform, he had previously encountered her in the line of duty. In 2024, the charges of sexual assault and unauthorized use of a computer data base were withdrawn in exchange for the guilty plea for breach of trust. He is no longer employed by EPS. ↩︎
- CBC: A male police officer with the Quebec City police service (SPVQ) has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a young female colleague. Lachance was also found guilty of voyeurism, having taken two nude photos of the victim during the event in August 2021. ↩︎
- CBC: In October 2021, a group of Calgary Police Service officers were drinking at a local strip club when one of the officers sexually assaulted a female employee and the others lied about it, newly released court documents show. Const. Gurluv Singh was handed a conditional discharge, meaning a conviction will not be registered if he completes a period of probation. ↩︎
- CBC: Andrew Seangio, a former RCMP officer convicted of secretly recording women in Ottawa bathrooms, bedrooms and hotel rooms for years, in addition to exposing himself to schoolgirls in Vancouver, is set for a third trial in Vancouver fall 2024, where Seangio is accused of impersonating someone, assaulting a woman and having a forged RCMP identification card — all while he was on bail awaiting an appeal of the Vancouver indecent act and exposure convictions that was later dismissed. ↩︎
- Canadian Press: In 2024, two more women have filed lawsuits alleging they were sexually assaulted by an on-duty member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, Sgt. Robert Baldwin, who offered them rides home from a night of drinking in downtown St. John’s in the 2010’s. These suits join the allegations of eight other women against Baldwin through previous lawsuits. ↩︎
- CBC: In 2024, Toronto police officer Constable Conal Quinn, was sentenced to four years in prison for a 2021 sexual assault. Const. Quinn responded to a call regarding receiving threatening text messages and returned to the woman’s house the next day in uniform whilst on duty and sexually assaulted her. ↩︎
- CTV: In 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the appeal of Newfoundland constable Douglas Snelgrove’s sexual assault conviction for a 2014 attack. A woman who was intoxicated approached him, on-duty and in uniform, looking for a ride home. He drove her without advising his dispatch and entered her home and sexually assaulted her. ↩︎
- CBC: In 2021, RCMP Constable Connor McDonald transported an unconscious, intoxicated woman who was apprehended under the Mental Health Act to the hospital and stayed with her for hours, engaging in “personal conversation.” Following her release, he sent her a Facebook friend request, gave her his personal cell phone number and at the conclusion of his shift, he came over to the woman’s home and engaged in sexual acts her. In 2024, the RCMP conduct board ordered his dismissal from the force. ↩︎
- CBC: Between 2014 and 2021, Surrey RCMP Corporal Peter Leckie carried on a sexual relationship with a young Indigenous woman who was in the sex trade and struggling with addiction and her mental health. Cpl. Leckie initiated contact with the woman on the false pretense that he was assigned to a prostitution task force and was seeking her assistance with this work. He also pursued a woman who had been the subject of a “wellness check” for a sexual relationship. He pled guilty to three charges of breaches of public trust in relation to the two women and in 2024, was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest. ↩︎
- CBC: In 2021, Angela Skjonsby filed a civil lawsuit alleging that Saskatoon police officer, Patrick Skinnider, sexually assaulted her and coerced her into an intimate relationship. Initial contact began was made when she reported to police a serious domestic violence attack from her now ex-husband. ↩︎