Another B.C. woman has come forward with allegations against her former colleagues in the RCMP, claiming harassment drove her out of the force.
Cpl. Elisabeth Couture has filed a lawsuit against the RCMP, accusing Mounties of demeaning and belittling her and forbidding her from making some work-related phone calls. When she complained, she claims she was told she was being watched.
"She was devastated," Couture's lawyer Marjorie Brown told CTV News. "She was very excited when she was awarded a promotion into the [Drugs and Organized Crime Awareness Service] unit, and to have it all go so badly has just had a terrible impact on her."
Brown says the abuse wasn't sexual, but Couture suffered through an atmosphere of fear and control.
"Cpl. Couture faced the problem of having the harassment face her at the hands of her superiors, so it was very difficult for her to achieve any resolution while she was working," Brown said.
Couture joins a growing number of women who say harassment made their jobs with the Mounties unbearable.
Krista Carle, a former constable, is also suing the force and says she's not surprised that other women like Couture have come forward with their own allegations.
"There's a lot of people who have taken early retirement because of harassment," Carle said.
Cpl. Catherine Galliford, formerly a high-profile RCMP spokeswoman, spoke out last month with claims that she was driven to sick leave because of sexual harassment.
On Tuesday, new RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson promised to root out problem officers guilty of "dark-hearted behaviour" like excessive use of force and lying.
"We're going to fire people, we're going to suspend people immediately, we're going to seek their dismissal through a formal procedure and we're going to suspend their pay," he said.
Carle says he's on the right track.
"I think a strong a strong leadership message needs to come out that we will not tolerate harassment, that it will be swiftly dealt with," she said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward
