Calgary police officer resigns at emotionally charged commission meeting

Saying she has endured continued bullying and sexual harassment and now fears retribution and retaliation, a 14-year Calgary police officer resigned publicly and tearfully at Tuesday's Calgary Police Commission meeting.

"It is with a heavy heart that I resign from the Calgary Police Service," said Jen Magnus, reading from a statement. "I have chosen to leave because it was made clear to me through [Freedom of Information] emails I requested on several executive members and leaders within the service and conversations I had with high ranking members I could no longer work for CPS without facing retaliation or retribution from certain people because of what I stood and fought for."

Chief Roger Chaffin was at the meeting and listened as Magnus read her resignation letter aloud. He later told reporters he wouldn't accept it under these circumstances.

• Female police officers met secretly with city councillor over toxic workplace allegations
• Calgary Police Commission rebukes members for speaking in public

"That's not the way you would accept any letter of resignation from an employee," he said. "You could see how emotionally charged she was and the difficulty in that presentation. We will wait some time and circle back at some point to talk to her about this."

Chaffin called it "a very, very difficult thing to watch." 

"An employee [to] have to come out in a public venue and be so emotionally upset about her experience in the organization," he said. "All the words you heard her say are the reason we are working so hard to change the culture in the organization."

Magnus said she was one of two officers who brought forward a complaint resulting in former chief Rick Hanson launching a human resources audit on CPS culture in 2013. But Magnus said when it became clear to her the results would not be disclosed publicly, she filed a FOIP request for the documents, hoping to release them herself.

"As I believe they had a right to know what was going on in the CPS and to hear how the CPS leaders plan to combat the issues surrounding bullying, sexual harassment, sexual assault and nepotism."

Reached Wednesday morning, Hanson declined to comment on the resignation, saying it would be inappropriate.

Met with city councillor

Magnus said she sent emails in 2016 to other officers she felt were also being treated unfairly, "because the CPS was failing to recognize family status in a fair and equitable way."

Meetings were set up soon after with Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who is a member of the police commission, and the group went public with their complaints in October. 

The police commission issued a release days later however, saying  it does not condone commissioners "speaking out of turn in public regarding this issue."

Other officers also spoke out against them. That, said Magnus, was a defining moment for her.

"Being called entitled and sensitive was not only hurtful words, but the fact no-one in the CPS leadership stood up to counter those comments reaffirmed for me how entrenched the issues within the organization are," she said. "To say nothing is an informal way of ignoring the problem and the victims within. I have been bullied, sexually harassed, degraded and chastised."

Magnus said the stress involved was detrimental to her health and relationships and she was forced to go on long-term stress leave.

"My husband, a sergeant with the Calgary police, has been forced to hear the disgusting things people have said about his wife," she said.

"I did not leave the Calgary Police Service, the Calgary Police Service left me."

• MORE CALGARY NEWS | Parkade proposed for Anderson LRT station
• MORE CALGARY NEWS | Calgary seeks to triple river access sites for boats, pedestrians