Estevan Mercury 20210331 by Estevan Mercury

A2 March 31, 2021

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Talks have been ongoing since Pierson’s funeral « A1 suggested that it was the time to act. “If you like me are trying to find a way to deal with all that stuff that is undone about this, I would ask you to find a way, write a letter, make a phone call, talk to anyone who will listen, and ask whoever has the authority to do so, to fix holes in our system.” Several days after the funeral, Johanah Audet, a retired EPS member, publicly voiced her concern about the situation at the EPS through a social media post. “I am concerned for any member who is currently struggling (or might struggle in the future) that they will suffer in silence because they feel they will be isolated, alienated or bullied by the very people empowered by the board,” Audet wrote in her post. In an interview, she explained why she felt that she had to make the post. 'We have to regard Jay's death as more than just a sad and untimely event. We have to look at the why. It's too late to help Jay now, sadly, he's gone, but there are still 30 people in that building. There are 30 people who … feel like they have nowhere else to turn, they feel like they're saddled with the burdens of the city and wanting to do a good job and wanting to maintain professionalism, but there's internal pressures in that building … What I've seen out of this administration over the last

seven years, was finding joy in the misery of others. And I worry who the next (target) will be." Audet retired in 2013 before the current administration came in, but throughout the years she stayed in touch and remained informed about things happening at the station, and she pointed out that the work at the EPS has never been the way it is under the leadership of the current chief. Barry Schulte, another retired EPS member, also had a tough experience with the service under the current administration and has been hearing a lot of nervewracking stories from the active members throughout the past seven years. He added that through his career he worked with different chiefs, but Estevan police was always a good place to work up until seven years ago. At any service, the police chief is supposed to be a leader of the police department, well-respected in the community and amongst other police members. However, in 2020 Ladouceur was asked not to come to the funeral of former chief Del Block. The Pierson family also asked that the EPS administration would not attend the funeral and give no official statements around the funeral time. After Audet's message went viral in the community, Mayor Roy Ludwig responded to it on behalf of the city council and the Estevan police board of commissioners.

"Please know that the board of police commissioners is committed to working closely with the membership along with the administration of the Estevan Police Service for the betterment of the organization and the city," Ludwig said. "As we move forward, the board of police commissioners is actively engaging with both the membership and administration to develop a full and complete understanding of the issues and concerns at hand.” On March 24, Jay Pierson's sister Kelly Pierson, and his exwife Amanda Pierson published their response calling for more action and thorough investigation. They also pointed out that by continuing to question the board's actions in Pierson's case, they are trying to ensure that other EPS members and their families won't face anything similar to what they went through. They would like to have a chance to share with the police board what Jay endured over the past four years to help ensure that other officers do not have similar experiences. Ludwig said Kelly and Amanda Pierson have been invited to speak at the next police board meeting. Both Schulte and Audet said that members still have a strong network and they all do their best to keep to the standard in their work. However, people interviewed for this article said that

there might be other "Jays" in the police building as of right now, and if nothing changes it is just a matter of time when someone else breaks down. "My fear is that every person has a breaking point," Audet said. Schulte, who got to work under Ladouceur's administration for about a year, said he put in his accumulated days off to retire earlier to make sure he didn't get into an open conflict with the chief. What was a good place to work throughout most of his career, at that time became a memory. Several interviewees described the environment at the EPS as "toxic," which decreases the chances that members, even if facing serious problems, will reach out or receive help. While there are many different stories about what's going on behind the police station walls, all of them overlapped in describing a lack of trust and support, fear and low morale among the membership. In an email to the Mercury, Police Chief Paul Ladouceur said that processes exist within the organization for staff to address concerns. “ These processes inc lude discussions with administration, formal grievance processes and consultation with the association,” Ladouceur said. “The administration and association meet regularly to discuss any concerns. The service does not

use social media or public venues to discuss or resolve any internal matters which may arise. As stated previously by the Estevan board of police commissioners, the board, association and administration have been conducting meetings to discuss any concerns.” Casey Ward pointed out that it's the employer's duty to provide a safe and respectable workplace and assist the members if they're struggling. The police board’s appeal of Pierson’s case resulted in “distrust in the chief,” Casey Ward said. "Ever y police association wants to be in good working relationship with management, because in the police world, we, police officers, just want to go out and serve our community and don't want to be worried about all those other things," said Casey Ward. He added that Pierson's untimely death was the final straw for many EPS members. "There's a lot of members there that are really struggling and hurting. They don't believe the chief will have their back at any time and will just basically make their life worse if they do come forward to try to ask for help. You can spend money on programs, but if you don't have your boss or your person that believes in you, that support, all the organizations, all those things aren't going to work because people aren't just going to sign up for them," Casey Ward said.

Carr believes carbon tax fight was right move Este van MLA L or i Carr says she was disappointed with the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to uphold the federal carbon tax. The governments of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario had taken the federal government to court regarding the feds’ ability to impose a carbon tax on those

three provinces, since they don’t enforce one. In a 6-3 ruling released Thursday, the S upreme Court ruled the feds did have the jurisdiction to force such a tax. Traditionally that would be provincial jurisdiction. “If they had truly based their decision on facts and constitution, it should have

gone our way, but obviously they weighed other things into their decision making,” said Carr, who was hopeful they would base their decision on provincial jurisdiction. Carr believes the fight against the carbon tax was the right move for the province. The federal carbon tax was the wrong approach to

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take, as it hurts businesses and individual citizens. “It was really important for us to stand up for Saskatchewan and stand up for the people who live here. We don’t agree with the carbon tax, we still don’t agree, but this is the hand that we’re being dealt now, so we have to deal with it moving forward.” Since the carbon tax was first imposed on Saskatchewan in 2019, she has heard nothing but opposition from people in Saskatchewan. Carr said the provincial government will now bring in some of its own measures, a made-in Saskatchewan price plan, rather than adhere to the federal guidelines. Until then, Saskatchewan will have to continue to follow the federal carbon tax. A Saskatchewan plan would need to get the green light from the feds. “One of the things that the premier (Scott Moe) had talked about yesterday in his scrum is designing our own electrical generation and natural gas provincial greenhouse gas emission regulations,” said Carr. “And what that will help us do is it actually helps us have more control and flexibility on how the carbon tax revenue is distributed.” The province has asked the federal government if they would make that retroactive to 2019. The premier has also suggested submitting a proposal for Saskatchewan carbon pricing on the system for fuel, similar to what New Brunswick has done, and has received the green light. “It would allow us to

Estevan MLA Lori Carr give an immediate rebate right at the pumps, instead of having some plan to rebate after the fact,” said Carr. The provincial government remains adamant that a carbon tax is not in the best interest of Saskatchewan. “We still don’t believe a carbon tax is the right way to be going. We believe that it’s ineffective. It penalizes people more than it helps them, and we’re trying to find the right balance for our ratepayers,” said Carr. The province introduced Prairie Resilience: A Made in Saskatchewan Climate Change Strategy in 2017, as a pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Obviously we had to anticipate that there was the possibility of this decision coming down like this,

so I know that within (the Ministry of ) Environment and SaskPower and all of the different ministries, they’ve been working on some of this stuff for a just in case.” She’s not sure how far along they are in the process, or when it will be completed, but she recognizes it would require a number of different ministries, including agriculture and energy and resources. “If you think about it, the carbon tax literally touches every part of our lives, whether you’re going to the grocery store and buying groceries, or if you’re at the clothing store, picking up something for your kids, at one point in time, that goods that you’re buying have been transported, so there’s fuel that’s been involved.”

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