Lethbridge West MPW Shannon Phillips is suing several members of the Lethbridge Police Service, saying her Charter rights were violated by illegal and unjustified searches of police databases.
The statement of claim, which was submitted to the Court of King’s Bench in Lethbridge earlier this week, says Phillips suffered as a result of the actions of at least three officers and one civilian employee and the lack of action by the then police chief.
“Phillips has intentionally or negligently suffered legal, personal, psychological and emotional harm as a direct result of any or all of the violations of her privacy,” the claim states.
The suit said she was seeking $400,000 in damages for pain, loss of reputation and PTSD. It also states that she cannot trust that her private information is safe in the hands of law enforcement and does not know how her illegal information has been used.
None of the claims have been proven in court. Phillips asked for the case to be tried before a judge and jury at the courthouse in Lethbridge.
The searches were conducted between January and November in 2018, when Phillips was Alberta’s environment minister while the NDP governed the province.
Phillips found out about the searches from a database called Niche on December 6, 2020, when she received the results of a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy request.
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Named in the lawsuit was Const. Joel Odorski, Const. Derek Riddel, Const. Ross Bond, civilian employee Allyson Dunsmore, former Chief Robert Davis and current Lethbridge Police Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh, along with a Jane Doe and John Doe.
The lawsuit alleges the first search occurred on Jan. 9, 2018, when Dunsmore allegedly sought out a 2015 police file that the lawsuit says was sensitive in nature and in which Phillips was the complainant.
The legal action alleges the next search occurred a month later on February 9, 2018, when Bond allegedly searched Phillips’ name three times in connection with two police files: one from 2013 where she was a witness and one from 2016 where she was the complainant.
The lawsuit said that after reading the content for his own personal purposes, Bond allegedly “used the information for non-law enforcement purposes of which only one or more of the defendants knew, as all such actions were concealed from Phillips.”
The third search occurred on March 5, 2018, when the lawsuit alleges Odorski looked up the same 2015 police file that had been searched two months earlier.
The lawsuit said he then shared the confidential 2015 information with third parties unknown to Phillips, “some of whom were Const. Odorski to be opponents of Phillips and her official duties and actions as a sitting MLA and Minister of the Environment.” Dunsmore allegedly did the same.
According to the statement of claim, Phillips had no involvement with anyone at the Lethbridge Police Service on the day of the searches. On that day in March, she attended a climate change conference in Edmonton.
The last search took place much later in the year. According to the lawsuit, on Nov. 29, 2018, Riddel looked up information about Phillips while on duty assigned to the bail bond office.
In all cases, the lawsuit said none of the defendants had any legitimate law enforcement purpose to search Phillips’ information and were, in fact, prohibited by law from doing so.
The lawsuit said the officers and the civilian employee used the information for non-law enforcement purposes.
They are accused of abusing their authority and invading the minister’s privacy, knowing it would be “personally, psychologically and emotionally damaging to Phillips”.
Phillips claims the searches were in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: specifically Section 7 which deals with life, liberty and security of the person, and Section 8, which states that everyone has the right to be protected from unreasonable search or seizure .
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Named in the lawsuit was former Lethbridge Police Chief Rob (Robert) Davis, who said it was his job to supervise and prevent his employees from engaging in misconduct.
“Chief Davis knew or should have known that at all material times there was a culture of open and pervasive non-compliance at the LPS as it related to access to LPS databases,” the suit said.
The lawsuit said he also should have been aware that Phillips was a particular target for police misconduct because of her public role.
“There was known vocal partisan political opposition by LPS officials to the policies of the government to which Phillips belonged, including but not limited to environmental protection politics.”
At the time, there was opposition to a plan to phase out and restrict off-road vehicles in the popular Castle Provincial Park wilderness area in southwestern Alberta.
The lawsuit said Davis should have been aware that the 2015 file would be particularly damaging to Phillips and warranted additional safeguards. The lawsuit did not detail what was in the 2015 file.
The statement of claim also said he should have been aware the officers, Dunsmore and the John and Jane Doe, “frequently failed or refused to fulfill their legal duties regarding access to LPS databases for individual personal reasons.”
Davis, who is from Ontario, left his role in 2019 to become the chief of police in Brantford, Ont.
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The John and Jane Doe are two people who are not named, but the lawsuit said that they “were at all material times LPS officers or civilian employees who knowingly participated or aided and abetted” to some or all of the defendants’ unlawful conduct.”
The lawsuit said they were recipients of the 2015 file, either directly or indirectly, from Odorski and Dunsmore, and engaged in misappropriation and invasion of privacy “through the unlawful use or publication of the 2015 LPS file information knowing that such actions would Phillips would cause harm.”
The lawsuit said the exact details of their misconduct were known to some of the defendants but were hidden from Phillips.
In the lawsuit, Phillips is seeking a combined $400,000 in damages along with punitive damages against each defendant to be determined in court, and legal fees.
After Phillips received the FOIP results in 2020, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) launched several investigations.
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It is the latest in a series of legal actions Phillips has taken since he found out about the unauthorized police surveillance.