The City of Leduc is paying 155 women more than $9.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit seeking damages for workplace sexual assault – one of the highest payouts per woman for such a suit in Canadian legal history, the Calgary law firm that represents them said Monday. The Burnet, Duckworth and Palmer law firm said in a media release the total payout to the women who came forward is $9,527,500 to settle the suit that was originally filed in February 2022 by former Leduc firefighters Christa Steele and Mindy Smith, claiming the abuse of female firefighters in the city of 35,000 was systemic, common and tolerated. The city’s fire chief quit less than a month after Steele and Smith filed the suit. In July 2023, an Alberta court approved a settlement in the case. Leduc is 25 kilometres south of the Edmonton city limits, adjacent to the Edmonton International Airport. Steele said on Monday she is pleased that she and the group of women involved in the class-action lawsuit were able to “set precedent across Canada.” “We made history and we left a mark, we left a footprint that we accomplished as a group,” Steele told CTV News Edmonton. “I’m happy that the city is acknowledging that there was an issue, and I’m happy that they are willing to make some critical changes that needed to be made. “It’s a long time coming.” In January 2024, Leduc Mayor Bob Young formally apologized to the women for physical and sexual abuse they experienced on the job. The public apology was part of a settlement approved in the summer of 2023 between the city and employees who claimed physical and sexual assault, harassment and bullying incidents dating back to 2002. In early April, a Calgary judge allowed several female Leduc civic employees to make public how many of them claimed physical and sexual assault, harassment and bullying incidents, as well as how many and how much the city has paid to settle the claims. The City of Leduc had fought to keep the number of women involved and the payout amount private. The city said in a statement posted on Monday to its website that the legal and claims costs of the lawsuit are being covered by insurance. The claimants are eligible for payments between $10,000 and $265,000. The settlement included confidentiality for any woman who has worked for the City of Leduc who wanted to come forward. The claims process for the suit is now closed. Lawyer Robert Martz of Burnet, Duckworth and Palmer said one reason why his law firm proceeded with class action was because they “didn’t know how many women were out there, and we hoped that we’d be able to reach as many as possible.” “When Christa and Mindy brought this case, that’s one of the things they hope to do – they wanted to push this forward so that other women in other places that had suffered these same things would have an opportunity to come forward and see compensation,” Martz told CTV News Edmonton on Monday. “I’m hopeful that the legal system is more open to these kind of claims going forward, that it’ll encourage women to know they’re not alone, and that there is a path to some level of justice by pursuing these cases.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
