B.C. Mountie should be fired or order to resign over behaviour in group chats: lawyer

The last of three Coquitlam Mounties found to have committed discreditable conduct had one final chance to plead his case Thursday.

A British Columbia RCMP officer who was found to have committed discreditable conduct says he’s not the same person he was five years ago and still wants to be a Mountie.

Const. Philip Dick told a conduct board hearing Thursday that he has undergone cognitive behavioral therapy and committed to his religious faith since being suspended with pay in 2021.

RCMP adjudicator Louise Morel determined last year that constables Dick, Ian Solven and Mersad Mesbah—all based in the Coquitlam, B.C., detachment—failed to treat people with respect and courtesy and committed discreditable conduct when they posted racist, sexist and homophobic comments in a group chat with other officers and on police computer terminals.

Mesbah and Solven have already had their hearings. Mesbah was fired, while Solven was forced to resign within 14 days.

Conduct authority lawyer John MacLaughlan says Dick should be handed the same consequences.

“Const. Dick repeatedly demeaned colleagues, superiors and a female recruit,” said MacLaughlan, adding he had “repeatedly used a racial slur for Asian people, or those of Chinese heritage.”

“In my submission, he made comments mocking systemic racism.”

Dick’s lawyer Anita Atwal cited a number of reference letters from fellow officers of various ethnicities and genders, in which Dick was described as a good officer who treated people with respect.

Atwal, who previously called the RCMP’s investigation biased, said Dick is a good candidate for rehabilitation, saying that a financial punishment would be an appropriate punishment.

Morel is expected to give her decision on Dick’s fate next Wednesday.