Catherine Galliford, a former RCMP spokesperson who ultimately became a whistleblower for harassment within the Mounties, has died.
Galliford was 58 while living in the Kamloops area. According to other media reports, she died from liver cancer.
The former RCMP corporal was the media relations officer for the Air India bombing task force and the Missing Women's Task Force which investigated the disappearance of numerous women ultimately linked to Robert Pickton. She eventually spoke at the Missing Women's Inquiry following the Pickton investigation.
It was in 2011 during an interview that Galliford said she had been subjected to harassment and sexual harassment within the force, dating back to when she went to the RCMP's training academy, Depot, in the 1990s.
Following that interview, the federal government and RCMP announced the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission would investigate the RCMP's handling of harassment complaints dating back to 2005. E Division, where B.C. RCMP is headquartered and where Galliford worked at the time, also began an internal review of sexual harassment complaints.
Galliford filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of B.C. on May 9, 2012. Her claim alleged sexual harassment and sexual assault at Depot, being stalked by a colleague, sexual advances and sexual assault from a superior while on RCMP-related travel, colleagues displaying pornography on the walls of a detachment office, and sexist and sexual remarks from superiors and colleagues.
Her claim also detailed the impact the harassment had on her, which including panic attacks, vomiting at work, hair loss, weight loss, alcohol abuse and a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Her case was set to go to trial in 2017, but Galliford reached a settlement agreement in 2016, four years after filing her lawsuit.
She wasn't the only one to file a lawsuit against the RCMP around that time. Four others filed lawsuits against the force within a few years.
