A Windsor police officer is asking an Ontario court to review his discreditable conduct charge for donating $50 to the Freedom Convoy protest in 2022.
Constable Michael Brisco is petitioning the Ontario Divisional Court in Toronto to review the decisions made in his case.
His application for a judicial review comes after a February decision by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission to dismiss his appeal of the discreditable conduct charge.
A judicial review is a common process by which courts ensure decisions of administrative bodies are fair, reasonable, and lawful.
“The evidence used to convict Const. Brisco amounted to nothing more than opinions from people who did not like the message,” lawyer Darren Leung said in an April 3 press release.
“We are hopeful that the Divisional Court will see that the entire conviction was unreasonable.”
Const. Brisco has maintained there was no “clear and compelling evidence” of discreditable conduct and described his punishment as “unreasonable and unduly harsh.”
The Ontario Civilian Police Commission agreed the penalty was “significant,” but said the discipline was not unreasonable, saying the penalty was “far less serious than demotion or termination.”
Const. Brisco made a donation to the trucker protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates on Feb. 7, 2022, through the website GiveSendGo. At the time, he was on unpaid leave for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine under the Windsor Police Service’s mandatory vaccination policy.
Const. Brisco’s donation was given anonymously, but his name was discovered and made public after the Feb. 13 hack of the GiveSendGo website. Const. Brisco testified during his initial hearing he believed he had been “laid off,” making him a civilian at the time of the donation.
He claimed abuse of process because the OPP investigation that identified him was based on a list of donors illegally obtained by a third party.
“It was unfortunate that private donor information was unlawfully accessed,” Mr. Leung said. “It is outrageous that the Ontario Provincial Police obtained this information to assist in persecuting police officers who were exercising their right to free expression.”
The commission ruled that because there had been no “abuse of application” claim filed at the hearing stage of the disciplinary process, that new arguments “should not be heard on appeal.”
Const. Brisco, a 15-year police veteran, is now back on active duty with the Windsor force.
