Female B.C. police officers push to keep discrimination case in court rather than labour arbitration

A group of current and former female police officers in British Columbia is asking the B.C. Court of Appeal to allow its proposed class-action lawsuit over alleged sex discrimination, bullying and harassment to proceed in court instead of being sent to labour arbitration. The case, filed in 2023 against several municipalities and police boards, has not yet been certified as a class proceeding.

The officers argue their claims go beyond ordinary workplace disputes and instead reflect a broader policing culture that has permitted and failed to correct systemic discrimination against women.

Lawyers say case is about systemic culture, not individual grievances

During a hearing in Vancouver, lawyer Kyle Bienvenu told the appeal court that the lawsuit is about a system that was designed to fail female officers. He argued the claims are collective in nature and should be dealt with together because they challenge what he described as a poisoned culture in municipal policing.

According to Bienvenu, the lawsuit is aimed at institutional failures across overlapping levels of government, not just isolated employment disputes involving one department or one officer. He said the lower court failed to give enough weight to the broader factual context behind the allegations.

Defendants say collective agreements govern the dispute

Lawyers for the City of Surrey and the Surrey Police Board argued that the claims belong before a labour arbitrator, not a court, because binding law already establishes that disputes arising under collective agreements must be resolved through the labour relations process.

That argument follows a B.C. Supreme Court ruling last year, which found it did not have jurisdiction over certain parts of the case because those claims arose from collective agreements.

Appeal decision still pending

The proposed lawsuit alleges that current and former female officers were subjected to systemic harassment, discrimination, bullying and retaliation based on gender or sexual orientation while serving in municipal police forces across B.C.

A three-judge panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal has reserved its decision, with no date yet set for a ruling. That means the next key question is whether the officers will be allowed to pursue their claims collectively in court or be required to advance them through labour arbitration instead.