Conduct Case MPCC‑2010‑004 Summary

On December 28, 2008, the complainant in this case, a corporal at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier, was leaving a discotheque in the region of Quebec city when a person whom he subsequently identified as a sergeant with the Military Police Valcartier detachment allegedly said to him, [TRANSLATION] “Holy shit, I recognize your face!” The sergeant is the subject member of the Military Police (MP). The complainant is convinced that the member who insulted him was present in court at the hearing of a charge previously brought against him and that this is what the remark alluded to. He also says that he had crossed paths with this member before, between the trial and the incident, at Tim Horton’s, and that the subject member had shot contemptuous looks at him on that occasion.

However, the subject sergeant denied being in the discotheque in question on that night and denied that he knew the complainant or was even able to recognize him.

Some of the facts recounted by the complainant were corroborated by various evidence. The complainant kept a note on his cell phone about the remark made that night. There are also documents that show that the subject sergeant was in fact present in court, on one occasion, during a case involving the complainant. However, the Military Police Complaints Commission (the “Commission”) simply cannot conclude, from the evidence as a whole, that the subject member is indeed the person who insulted the complainant. The identification by the eyewitness is fragile evidence in itself and the evidence available to the Commission is too slim and inconsistent for it to be possible to decide between the two versions of the facts recounted to it.

The Commission therefore concludes that the allegation has not been proved and makes no recommendation with respect to this complaint.

Date modified:

2013-01-07