RCMP lawyer says B.C. officer’s ‘downright ghastly’ comments violated code of conduct

A hearing on allegations RCMP members committed misconduct by engaging in a racist, homophobic and discriminatory group chat has ended.

The lawyer for a British Columbia RCMP officer facing possible dismissal over derogatory comments in a private group chat and on police computer terminals says her client believed his behaviour was “condoned” by the force.

Allison Tremblay, lawyer for Coquitlam RCMP Const. Mersad Mesbah, said Wednesday that her client was “led astray” by superiors, and believed it was acceptable to “joke, vent, and use unfiltered language” in a Signal messaging app group chat with fellow officers.

She was speaking in closing submissions at a police hearing into whether comments by Mesbah and fellow Coquitlam RCMP constables Ian Solven and Philip Dick amounted to misconduct.

John MacLaughlan, a lawyer for the RCMP’s conduct authority, earlier said Mesbah’s comments contravened the force’s code of conduct and were “downright ghastly.”

Closing submissions concluded Wednesday.

Tremblay said the national police force has no legitimate interest in comments made in a private chat on officers’ personal cellphones that utilized the encrypted messaging app. “The members thought Signal was private. That’s why they were on Signal. That’s why they chose Signal,” she said.

Mesbah testified that he likened the chat to being in his own house, and Tremblay said text communications are like “modern phone calls.”

“I submit that the RCMP has no more interest in its members’ personal thoughts shared in a private Signal chat or text chain than it does in a member’s diary, a private telephone conversation, or a private dinner party,” she said.

She said the RCMP conduct board is being asked in this case to find that police officers “cannot expect privacy in their private communications.”

“This ruling will be precedential,” she said.

Tremblay said Mesbah admitted some of his comments were discreditable, but she told the board adjudicator that the investigation was procedurally unfair and engaged in “fishing expeditions” that aren’t permitted by the RCMP Act.

Tremblay said the entire investigation into her client was unfair and told the adjudicator that “shoddy police work” shouldn’t be excused, while denying that the RCMP has legal oversight in members’ private communications.

She said the conduct authority representative pursued the case by laying out particular allegations that “went beyond the boundaries of what is proper.”

Tremblay also said the RCMP has no policy about members participating in private group chats.

MacLaughlan had said earlier Wednesday that Mesbah’s comments included denigrating a domestic violence complainant, and that he was not a “credible witness” when he claimed his comments were made out of frustration and came from a place of “darkness.”

He said Mesbah claimed to not remember details about messages while testifying under oath, but offered a “self-serving narrative” about his intentions.

MacLaughlan said the absence of an RCMP policy about group chats can’t excuse the officers’ behaviour.

“The fact that there may have been a policy gap with respect to private group chats can’t be conflated with a permissive approach to engage in discreditable conduct,” he said.

“I just want to emphasize in closing here ... a higher standard applies to a police officer, at the risk of stating the obvious.”

The conduct board adjudicator said she will render her decision on all three officers on Nov. 7.

This report by Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press, was first published Oct. 22, 2025.