Based on coverage from CBC, Times Colonist, Sudbury.com, and The Peterborough Examiner.
A proposed class-action lawsuit by female police officers against several B.C. municipalities and police boards is back in the spotlight, with the key fight now about where their claims should be heard: in open court as a class action, or through labour arbitration as workplace disputes.
At a hearing in Vancouver on Monday, the officers and their lawyer told the B.C. Court of Appeal the allegations are about systemic discrimination and a “poisoned” policing culture, not the kind of issue that should be split into individual grievances under a collective agreement. Lawyers for the City of Surrey and the Surrey Police Board pushed back, arguing existing law says these claims belong before a labour arbitrator.
B.C. police class action heads to appeal
The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by current and former police officers. They allege harassment, bullying, and discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation while working in municipal policing in British Columbia. Several municipalities and police boards are named as defendants.
The case has not been certified as a class proceeding, meaning the court has not yet approved it to proceed on behalf of a broader group. But the appeal matters because it could determine whether major parts of the claim can even be heard in B.C. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel heard arguments Monday and reserved its decision. There is no date yet for when the ruling will be released.
Female officers allege systemic harassment in policing
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Kyle Bienvenu, told the Court of Appeal the case is aimed at what he described as a system that has “permitted, perpetuated and failed to remedy sexual discrimination against women in municipal policing.”
His argument to the judges was blunt: treating this as a set of individual workplace complaints misses the nature of what the plaintiffs say happened across multiple departments. He argued the lower court wrongly “fragmented” the dispute by viewing it mainly as a set of working-condition issues, comparing that approach to treating the case like a fight over “parking spaces, overtime pay or retirement benefits.”
Bienvenu told the court the women are not suing because they were denied employment entitlements. They’re alleging widespread, repeated misconduct and retaliation that, in their view, reflects a broader culture problem that can’t be fixed by one-off arbitration decisions.
He also argued the claim targets a “system of institutions of overlapping levels of government” that failed to stop discrimination, bullying, harassment and retaliation in municipal police forces.
Surrey argues labour arbitration, not courts
The City of Surrey and the Surrey Police Board are among the defendants. Their lawyer, Jill Yates, told the appeal panel that “binding” law already puts these kinds of claims in front of a labour arbitrator when they arise under a collective agreement.
Yates said the plaintiffs have other formal avenues as well, including filing human rights complaints, using B.C.’s workers’ compensation regime, or pursuing grievances through their unions. In her view, the class action is an attempt to sidestep the province’s labour-law framework.
She argued there is no real jurisdictional puzzle here, and that even if there were concerns about safe working conditions that an arbitrator could not address, workers’ compensation could handle them. Either way, she said, the matters should not return to provincial superior court.
Plaintiffs say other systems don’t protect them
Some plaintiffs and prospective class members attended the hearing, underscoring that this isn’t just a legal argument happening on paper.
Cheryl Weeks, a plaintiff and former Vancouver police officer, said she and others were “astounded” their sexual harassment claims are being legally compared to disputes like pension plan issues. She also questioned whether arbitration, workers’ compensation, or internal processes would offer meaningful protection for women who say they were victimized on the job.
Weeks said some have tried to go through their unions, but argued internal systems can be compromised when decision-makers come from within policing. She warned that even if someone “wins” in a process like arbitration, it may not fix the day-to-day reality of continuing to work around alleged harassers, including the possibility that those people could remain in the workplace or even become supervisors.
The Court of Appeal’s decision will shape whether the lawsuit can move forward as a collective court case, or whether the women will be pushed toward individual proceedings through labour and related systems.
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