SPECIAL REPORT： Disciplinary tribunal for vaccine-sceptic Ottawa cop nears its end
Episode Stats
Harmful content
Misogyny
5
sentences flagged
Summary
In this episode of the Western Standard Reporting at the Disciplinary tribunal for Constable Helen Gruse, a police officer with the Ottawa Police Service, who, back in March of last year, was found guilty of the charge of discreditable conduct, which means that she was guilty of having engaged in behaviour that would likely undermine the reputation of the police service, in other words bring the OPS into disrepute.
Transcript
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The message that the prosecution is sending to police across this country, it's not just the Ottawa police,
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is that police officers are not to investigate sensitive matters involving potential criminal accountability of government officials.
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The message that is being sent to Canadians is that government are above the rule of law.
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Robert Krejcik here in Ottawa, Ontario for the Western Standard reporting at the disciplinary
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tribunal for Comfortable Helen Bruce, a police officer with the auto police service who back
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in March of last year in 2025 was found guilty of the charge of discreditable conduct, which
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means that she was found guilty of having engaged in behavior that would likely undermine the
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reputation of the auto police service in other words bring the OPS into disrepute now what was
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it that Helen Bruce did that brought about this charge she used to work for the sexual assault
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and child abuse unit here at the OPS and the SACA unit oversees among other things infant deaths
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that need to be investigated to determine whether or not there was foul play or negligence on the
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part of the parent or guardian in 2020 there was an increase in infant deaths brought to the
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attention of the OPS relative to previous years. And this happened to coincide with the rollout
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of the so-called COVID-19 vaccines. Helen Bruce was inquiring about whether or not there was some
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sort of linkage between the so-called COVID-19 vaccines, including the vaccination status of
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mothers and these infant deaths. So I'm here with Jason Unruh. He's with True North. He's been
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reporting on this disciplinary tribunal since back on day one, I think. He's got a deep sense of
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history with respect to the events that have unfolded and he's definitely been here for the
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past three days i want to ask him basically what he thinks about the major takeaways of the previous
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three days what jumped out at you what do you think the audience should know about what's
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occurred across this penalty phase of this disciplinary tribunal following the determination
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of helen gruce as being guilty of discreditable conduct it's like groundhog day the movie
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uh this disposition phase the last three days that we've been witness to has been a rehashing
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of the prosecution of helen gruce or what i like to refer to as the persecution of
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detective helen gruce uh for the i guess the crime or in this case the discreditable conduct
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for looking into possible link between the COVID vaccines
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She didn't take notes or her notes were insufficient.
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but you know evidence given during the tribunal were contrary to that you know she did take notes
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um every time she logged into the rms it was uh noted by the system itself so that was a
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element of note taking as well which was testified to by staff sergeant daniluk
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just so the audience knows the rms is the records management system it's like this
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police database that cops use for all sorts of queries and information. Right. And so during
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the prosecution's arguments for in favor of a two-year demotion in rank and a commensurate pay
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cut, which the defense estimates could cost Helen Groose in the neighborhood of $50,000 on top of
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$400,000 in legal fees she's already paid out of her own pocket by taking a line
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of credit against her home because the police union refused to cover any of her
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legal expenses. What the prosecution is saying, they've basically thrown
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everything with the kitchen sink at Detective Groose in terms of existing
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case law uh to support this demotion so you know you have officers engaging in uh
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in tow truck scams uh officers engaging uh in um illicit sexual activities
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while on duty in the patrol car while on duty in the patrol car
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um and and you know and lying about these things or failing to take proper notes you know attending a
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bar fight involving two off-duty cops not taking notes for that to say well look you know these
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officers were punished with such and such a disposition you know suspension
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quite minor in in comparison to the two-year demotion that they're looking for for detective
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Gruse. So in the penalty phase of this disciplinary tribunal, given that Helen
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Gruse was already found guilty by tribunal officer Chris Renwick, the opposing sides,
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in this case the prosecution and the defense, are laying out their arguments for what they
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seek as an appropriate punishment. I am here with Bathsheba Vandenberg,
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counsel for Constable Helen Gruse, who's been generous enough to answer some questions for us.
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And the first question I've got for you, Bathsheba, is about a remark you made during
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your arguments in the penalty phase of this hearing in which you warn that punitive measures
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against your client could potentially lead to a chilling of police officers' willingness to
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practice their discretion and to take initiative against matters that you describe might be of a
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political or controversial nature. Maybe you can flesh that out for the audience. Of course. Well,
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the issue here is that the prosecution is asking for a 24-month demotion from class one to class
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too and that's an incredibly harsh penalty for the circumstances before the tribunal
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and the tribunal found last year Detective Helen Groose guilty of discreditable conduct
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based on what they have asserted in their ruling which is not what she was charged with
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of conducting a criminal negligence investigation into public health officials in relation to
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COVID-19 vaccinations. The ruling also has this unusual standalone paragraph where it alleges
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that Detective Helen Groose had weaponized her police powers to conduct a criminal negligence
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investigation. Well I need to just say again and I repeat it often because I don't want this to be
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misunderstood. Detective Helen Groose was not charged with having conducted a criminal negligence
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investigation and she was not conducting a criminal negligent investigation she was at
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the probative stage so this is where the chilling comes into play because detective helen gruse
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was acting on a hunch she was at the probative stage of an investigation she had not initiated
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an investigation she had simply looked into the ottawa records management system to see if there
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was a pattern that was alarming with regards to the tripling of sudden infant deaths that
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She saw a pattern and she said something the same day to the chief of police.
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She used her police discretion to raise an issue to the chief of police with regards
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to public safety issues that falls squarely within her police duties to protect the public
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and to preserve life and within two weeks she had her badge
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stripped off of her and then three years later she's found
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guilty of discredible conduct and then a year later that is this
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week we're hearing submissions from the prosecution
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that she deserves 24 months of demotion the message that the prosecution is
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just the Ottawa police is that police officers are not to investigate
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sensitive matters involving potential criminal accountability of government
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officials. The message that is being sent to Canadians is that government are
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above the rule of law and that is a direct affront to our rule of law in
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Canada. It essentially translates into the fact that we no longer have the rule
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of law here. You have to remember that police officers are only force in Canada that are there
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to enforce their rule of law, to protect us. And that protection is from anyone who is going to
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endanger public safety or who's going to take away life and they need to be held accountable.