VANCOUVER — A government lawyer is asking a British Columbia judge to throw out claims from hundreds of female RCMP members who want to sue the force over allegations of gender discrimination.
Mitchell Taylor is arguing the federal government is not directly liable for alleged harassment and bullying of former and current RCMP employees who are seeking to have a class-action lawsuit certified.
The women, led by representative plaintiff and former Mountie Janet Merlo, are aiming to combine their cases into one suit against the federal attorney general and B.C.'s justice minister.
But Taylor says the majority of claims lack legal foundation and have no reasonable prospect of success at trial.
He has also asked a B.C. Supreme Court judge to block the legal action from proceeding by arguing the claims refer to incidents that allegedly occurred more than two years before Merlo filed the claim in March 2012.
A lawyer who has argued for the class action says the complaints of 375 women should move forward collectively in order to show there's a systemic problem within the RCMP.
