Grand Forks Fire and Rescue is currently under investigation for alleged bullying and harassment.
Deputy Corporate Officer and Communications Officer for the City of Grand Forks, Kevin Mckinnon, says the City received a complaint and began their own investigation:
“In addition a complaint for the same was filed with WorkSafe(BC), and that also led to WorkSafe doing a safety inspection where they found a couple of things that were not up to Worksafe’s expectations.”
He says the City takes these allegations seriously:
“The city takes these allegations very seriously and has conducted an independent investigation using a third-party human resources consultant in order to do that, and as a result we are waiting for the results of that to be presented.”
Mckinnon explains that the third-party consultant makes it more fair for both sides:
“The complainant did meet with our HR manager when initial allegations were brought forward, and almost immediately that’s when things were escalated to a third-party consultant to make sure that this was going to be done in a transparent manner, just to make sure that all of the processes are followed correctly.”
He adds that as of earlier this week the Fire Chief is on paid administrative leave, but that won’t affect public safety:
“We have two Deputy Chiefs that have stepped up and will be taking on the extra responsibilities in the short term, so while certainly having a person not in the office is noticeable, public safety won’t be impacted in any way.”
Mckinnon says the investigation has been going on for a while now, and predicts it’s nearing completion, but can’t be certain until they receive results back.