Lucki was questioned about the case by a lawyer during a Mass Casualty Commission hearing in Halifax on Wednesday. “Do you have any concerns about what this says about female members of the RCMP?” asked lawyer Jane Lenehan. “Absolutely,” Luki replied. “This is not something I take lightly and I can say that as a female member, and I can say that with a 36-year history in my organization, and I can say that with a history as a woman before I joined the RCMP .. I don’t it’s something I take lightly.” Luki favored a ruling that allowed Const. Devin Pulsifer to keep his job despite his boss in Nova Scotia wanting him fired for sexual assault. Details of the case were made public earlier this summer. According to an RCMP conduct board decision and a report by the province’s police watchdog, an intoxicated Pulsifer put his hands under another RCMP officer’s shirt and grabbed her breasts in front of other RCMP members at an event working in a bar. Both the conduct board’s decision and the report said Pulsifer walked up to a second constable and put a hand under her shirt. Pulsifer, who was posted to the detachment in Liverpool, NS, at the time, does not deny the allegations and said he was drunk at the time. The incident was investigated by Nova Scotia’s Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), a civilian agency that investigates allegations against police officers. He concluded that Pulsifer could be charged with sexual assault. But since both women had stated in writing that they did not wish the case to “proceed to the stage of criminal prosecution”, SIRT did not prosecute. The RCMP has been accused for years of under-sanctioning Mounties in cases of harassment and sexual assault. The federal government has paid millions to compensate 2,304 women who suffered sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation while working for the RCMP. (Maria Jose Burgos/CBC) The RCMP conduct board found that, “on a balance of probabilities,” the allegations made by both women were substantiated. The board docked Pulsifer 35 days’ pay, declared him ineligible for promotion for two years and ordered him to undergo alcohol abuse counseling.
The commander considered it a sexual assault
The head of the RCMP in Nova Scotia at the time appealed that decision, arguing that Pulsifer’s actions met the definition of sexual assault and that he should resign or be fired. In comments published on the conduct board’s final decision, Lee Bergerman, the now-retired former assistant commissioner for Nova Scotia, argued that the board “deliberately misclassified [Pulsifer’s] actions as “unwanted sexual intercourse”. He said the board described him as a “drunk pub-goer” with a view to imposing lesser sentences. The case was referred to the RCMP’s External Review Board (ERC), which sided with the board. The ERC is an independent administrative tribunal that conducts case reviews of appeal decisions in certain RCMP employment and labor relations matters. Lucki, who had the final say in the case, earlier this year concluded that the allegation against Pulsifer initially qualified as “credible conduct” — not sexual assault — upheld the board’s original assessment and dismissed Bergerman’s appeal. Lucki wrote that “Pulsifer’s peers spoke highly of him, his performance evaluations were positive, and most importantly, he demonstrated integrity in the way he conducted himself after the incident, a quality for which he had previously been respected “. Lucki defended her decision on Wednesday, saying there was no error in the decision-making process. He also said he has concerns about the RCMP’s disciplinary system.
“I hope I never have to make the decision again”
“It’s something that’s very near and dear to my heart … I follow what the process is. I don’t always, sometimes, agree with the process,” he said. “I hope I never have to make the decision again because you’re dealing with all the legalities of the decision and you’re struggling with the moral part of the decision. And those two things don’t often go together in cases like this.” Lucki was appointed commissioner with a mandate to improve the culture of the RCMP after years of sexual abuse and harassment. In his scathing 2020 report into the RCMP’s internal culture, former Supreme Court Justice Michel Bastarache said he heard alleged victims of sexual harassment accuse the RCMP of letting the perpetrators slide with little to no “consequences.” After that report went public, Lucki vowed to eliminate sexual assault, harassment and discrimination in the RCMP. Luki said a review of the force’s behavioral measures is underway. “My commitment to my organization is to modernize our behavior,” he said Wednesday. “This is where I have to fight.”
