Settlement reached in class action lawsuit by Leduc female firefighters

A settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit filed against the City of Leduc.

The lawsuit filed on Feb. 24, 2022, alleged a system and culture where the abuse of female firefighters was systemic, common and tolerated.

The settlement is still subject to court approval but is the first of a class action involving sexual misconduct and sexual assault in a fire department or municipality in Canada.

“We hope [to] send a message to fire departments and municipalities that you can’t tolerate this kind of conduct and that there’ll be consequences and accountability if they don’t change workplace cultures,” said Robert Martz, BD&P’s lead lawyer on the case.

The class action was started by two female firefighters, Mindy Smith and Christa Steele.

Steele, who was a member of the fire department from 2002 to 2022, is pleased with the settlement.

“Relieved everything that we’ve worked so hard for has come to fruition, but I mean, this is just the start of accountability,” she said.

Martz said a total of nine women joined the class action providing sworn affidavits, three of them firefighters, the rest from other departments within the City of Leduc. Martz also said he’s spoken to a few dozen more women who experienced similar workplace issues.

“We anticipate a lot of women will come forward. I think nine is the tip of the iceberg and when those women came forward they understood that they had to undergo cross-examination and things like that, so there’s a lot of women that just didn’t want to do that,” he said.

Terms of the settlement include:

• Each member of the class action is eligible for financial compensation between $10,000 and $285,000
• Any woman who worked at the City of Leduc over the past 20 years is eligible to participate in the class action

Steele said the financial compensation will help make victims like herself whole again.

“It’s going to enable them to seek out the psychology that they need, it’s going to enable them to help their families in any way that they need,” she said.

“The claims process is confidential and non-adversarial so that women shouldn’t feel that if they come forward that their supervisor or co-workers are going to hear about this,” said Martz. “It’s all confidential.”

The mayor of Leduc is also required to make a public apology and ensure women who participate in the class action or make a claim are not retaliated against.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to the mayor for an interview but city staff said only statements would be provided.

“The proposed settlement is a critical step towards accountability, healing, and the restoration of trust within our community,” Leduc City Manager Derek Prohar said in a statement.

“Regretfully, we cannot undo the harm of the sexual misconduct that was experienced, but we are committed to learning from the past to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future,” he said.

Martz said the apology is important to his clients.

“Throughout this process they wanted to ensure that you couldn’t just pay some money and make this go away, that people had to really understand what had happened at Leduc and what needed to change,” he said.

“Having the leadership of Leduc acknowledge that and acknowledge the harm that these women suffered is a key piece of that and for changing that culture and make it a safe workplace going forward,” he added.

The settlement is expected to have a significant impact on Canadian case law and sets a precedent for victim advocacy in workplace harassment settlements in the future.

“Policies and procedures need to be strong and they need to be implemented and their people need to be educated to keep women safe in the workplace,” said Steele.

“The boys club needs to be broken up and the only way to do these things is if women start stepping up and getting their voices heard and I really hope that something like our class action has maybe empowered those women to do those things,” she said.

A hearing to approve the settlement will happen on July 4.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti