Well, I can tell you that I knew nothing of any of these matters until May 28, when I received a call from Jim Ewanovich after Ron Lewis had been in his office with Assistant Commissioner Spice. I was in P.E.I., and I got a phone call from Mr. Ewanovich. He was all upset that I had “ratted him out” to Ron Lewis about the hiring of his daughter. Subsequent to five minutes on the phone with him, where I told him I hadn't spoken to Ron and I didn't even know what he was talking about, I met Ron at a meeting in Niagara Falls around the reserve program, which was referred to earlier.
After that, between June 3 and June 6, I met with Denise Revine, who started to tell me what was going on based on the A-base review. At that point I spoke to Assistant Commissioner Spice, who is our ethics adviser. Mr. Spice had received a complaint from Suzanne Perron, who was referred to here earlier, about a threat to her made by Mr. Crupi. I spoke with her. She was very upset. She's a 28-year public servant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and she had been threatened with what she felt was her job. I spoke to her for a few minutes, and then I went to Mr. Spice. I advised John that Denise had started to find a lot of things going on in the NCPC area, N2020, and to give me a little time, and we would keep digging and find out what we could about it.
Subsequent to that meeting there was a senior management meeting, which is the senior executives of the mounted police. At that meeting, John disclosed to both Deputy Commissioner Barb George and then Assistant Commissioner Vern White about my knowledge. The reason that came up is that she kept.... So she came to see me and told me about a little bird in A Division who had told her that there was a complaint or something laid in A Division. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. Lewis had laid the complaint in A Division.
On June 17, I met with Commissioner Zaccardelli--at Barb George's request, not mine. I was still trying to dig. I left him with three or four pages of documents, which we left with you at our previous meeting. At that meeting, and subsequent to that meeting.... That is the reason I was removed. There is absolutely no other reason. Deputy George made it clear to me that it was Commissioner Zaccardelli's decision. She told me it was for performance on HRMIS in the first place, and I have notes throughout the next three or four months where it continues to change.
The bottom line is that it was a very clear message to the employees that you don't put your hand up. Did we have the conversation about why other people weren't coming forward? Yes, we did. And it was made very clear to him that nobody was happy and that they didn't trust that anyone was going to do anything.
I'm back in the organization. If I was so afraid for my career, why would I be here today? Why would I have done what I've done in the last three and a half years? Why would I have continued along, hand in glove with Denise Revine, with a commitment that I made to her when she found this about my organization?
I've heard it many times. I've heard it many times from Mr. Zaccardelli. He let us down. He came in here...and he talks the values and he means them--most times. This is a leader who got to the top of this organization. He has made a mistake, and now we're back into the same stuff. We have the notes. We have the paper. We know what's going on here.
I was removed because I came forward. That is all.