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Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips. (Supplied by Shannon Phillips)

Appeal to be heard on decision in MLA Phillips surveillance case

Feb 2, 2021 | 12:12 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips will be able to appeal a 2020 decision that followed an incident of unauthorized surveillance by two Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) officers.

On April 14, 2017, Phillips, who was Alberta’s Minister of Environment at the time, met with associates at a downtown Lethbridge diner.

Among the topics of discussion was a new provincial park in the Castle region that was announced earlier that year. The announcement was controversial as it would have restricted unregulated off-road vehicle use in an environmentally-sensitive area.

Sgt. Jason Carrier and other uniformed officers were at the diner at the time, and upon learning that this matter was being discussed, suggested to Cst. Keon Woronuk that he should attend.

The pair listened in to the conversation and took photos of Phillips and those she was speaking with.

As the group was leaving, Woronuk followed one of the associates to their vehicle and wrote down its license plate number. Woronuk conducted an unauthorized search through the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) to seek the person’s identity.

The following day, Woronuk made a public Facebook post about the meeting, including photos of the group in the diner. Carrier learned of Woronuk’s actions but chose not to inform his superior officer.

On April 21, Phillips filed a complaint under the Police Service Regulation (PSR) regarding the “surveillance.” At the time, she was unaware that the CPIC inquiry had been conducted.

LPS referred the complaint to Calgary Police Service (CPS) so they could conduct an independent investigation. On April 11, 2018, the chief disposed of Phillips’ complaints on the grounds that the Facebook post was not false or misleading and that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that the officers had taken these actions for personal reasons.

It was discovered in the chief’s decision that he had considered the CPIC search to be an “unrelated” matter as Phillips had submitted the complaint yet she was not the one being investigated by the search.

The CPIC search was reviewed separately by Medicine Hat Police Service (MHPS).

For that matter, Woronuk plead guilty to five counts including corrupt practice, discreditable conduct, deceit, corrupt practice, and insubordination. As of July 9, 2020, he was demoted from Senior Constable Level II to Constable 1st Class for a period of two years.

Carrier plead guilty to two counts including discreditable conduct and neglect of duty. As of July 9, 2020, he was demoted from Sergeant to Senior Constable Level II for a period of one year.

READ MORE: Lethbridge police officers temporarily demoted in connection with surveillance of MLA Phillips

It was only after this decision that Phillips learned that the CPIC search was being investigated as an entirely separate matter to her initial complaint.

On August 6, 2020, she filed a notice of appeal with the Alberta Law Enforcement Review Board (ALERB) related to the penalties imposed onto the two officers.

Phillips stated that the CPIC search stemmed from her original complaint and, therefore, should be investigated together, that separating “a single course of unlawful surveillance by the same officers on the same date at the same place targeting the same citizens , into individual bits ‘ ignoring the circumstances as a whole.”

She adds that the complaint as a whole constitutes serious misconduct and that police downplayed the seriousness of the matter.

Some of the findings in ALERB’s decision include:

  • The full scope of Phillips’ complaint was not fully investigated during CPS’ first investigation as it did not include the CPIC search.
  • The chief’s complaint and the MHPS investigation “appears to be tainted” as Phillips was not informed of the full situation
  • The chief, who had requested the CPIC search to be investigated separately, might not have considered the severity of the offences when taken as a whole
  • The investigation into the two complaints “lacked transparency” and were, at first glance, “tainted”

As a result of ALERB’s decision, Phillips has officially been designated a “complainant” and her appeal will go ahead.

Phillips took to Facebook this week following ALERB’s decision to say that she will be “spending thousands of dollars of my own money to get some justice.”

Remember last summer, those stories of the two Lethbridge Police Officers who harassed and followed me? I asked the Lethbridge Police Service and the new Chief to support my appeal of the decision not to fire them. I didn’t think it was a good use of LPS money and resources to defend officers who abused their authority.The Chief declined to take my advice, and LPS spent a bucket of money on lawyers to fight my appeal.They lost. Now we go to a public hearing, where they’ll spend more of our City of Lethbridge tax dollars defending discreditable conduct. The LPS needs to consider how to repair public trust in order to ensure public safety. My priority is our public safety in Lethbridge. That’s why I’m spending thousands of dollars of my own money to get some justice.