B.C. police watchdog calls hearing into officers' 'racist, sexist' WhatsApp group

British Columbia's Police Complaint Commissioner says he's called a public hearing to probe misconduct allegations against three current and three former Nelson police officers over alleged racist, sexist and inappropriate comments made in a private WhatsApp chat group.

Prabhu Rajan says the allegations "go to the heart of public trust in policing" and the public hearing will also delve into a constitutional challenge filed in court last year by five of the subject officers.

A notice of public hearing from Rajan's office says the court case hasn't moved forward since it was filed in August 2024, and a retired judge appointed as an adjudicator will have the power under B.C.'s Police Act "to decide all necessary questions of fact and law ... including constitutional challenges."

The notice says the alleged misconduct dates back to March 2019, when the officers were members of a group chat where they shared "racist, sexist, or other discriminatory or inappropriate content."

It says a police discipline authority in February 2023 found that the officers "appeared to have committed discreditable conduct" by participating in the group chat, but Rajan says the case hasn't been resolved due to delays related to the legal challenge.

The notice says no dates for the public hearing have been set, but it "will start on the earliest practicable date."

"Important issues are at stake in this case," the notice says. "Indeed, increasing attention is being paid across Canada and elsewhere to whether police or other professionals commit misconduct if they post or engage with discriminatory or otherwise inappropriate content in chat groups they consider to be private."

Current Officers Adam Sutherland, Nathaniel Holt and Sarah Hannah, as well as former Nelson officers Jason Anstey and Robert Armstrong all say in affidavits filed in B.C. Supreme Court that they "considered that the WhatsApp group was private and would remain private."