Lawsuit accuses Ottawa police of wiretapping and surveillance of Somali officers

Monday, September 9, 2024
By Marlo Glass

The lawsuit alleges that the Ottawa Police Service “has developed a reputation internally and externally as an institution rife with racism and discrimination and as an over-policing of the racialized communities it is sworn to protect.”

A $2.5 million lawsuit alleges that Ottawa police wiretapped and surveilled five Somali officers and their family members, accusing the force of racism and discrimination against its own members.

The lawsuit, filed in September 2023, alleges that OPS obtained the wiretaps and general warrants “based on racist and stereotypical assumptions about Black individuals of Somali descent,” and alleges that the wiretaps and warrants were improperly issued and violated the Charter rights of the officers and their family members.

As first reported by CBC, the lawsuit alleges that the OPS “has developed a reputation internally and externally as an institution rife with racism and discrimination and as an institution that over-polices the racialized communities it is sworn to protect.”

The agents, the indictment states, “were specifically recruited to enhance the reputation of OPS.”

“Instead, OPS marginalized the officers, subjected them to racial slurs, and then invoked its privileges as a law enforcement agency to invade the plaintiffs’ privacy, the most intimate details of their lives, in an effort to discredit them. In doing so, OPS perpetuated the racial prejudices and stereotypes that it originally sought to correct by hiring the officers.”

Liban Farah, Mohamed Islam, Abdullahi Ahmed, Ahmedkador Ali and Feisal Bila Houssein, who are all identified as police officers, say they were hired in part to improve tense relations with racialized communities.

Instead, the lawsuit alleges, the officers were criticized for their anti-racism policies with racial bias, including writing a report on how OPS could improve policing in marginalized and racist areas and confronting fellow officers who posted racist memes.

“Plaintiffs were subjected to the wiretaps and blanket warrants because of their race, Somali heritage, and their advocacy on behalf of racialized officers and community members,” the lawsuit alleges. “They have reason to believe that the affidavits OPS filed in support of the warrants did not reveal to the issuing judges the surrounding context that necessarily provided the as-yet unknown basis for believing that the wiretap of their private communications was justified.”

The wiretaps are sealed, meaning plaintiffs do not know why a judge approved the wiretapping.

The officers are all Canadian citizens and were invited, recruited and encouraged to join the police force, the complaint states.

It further claims that all officers are performing “excellently” but that police wiretapping and surveillance have left them “marked.”

“Plaintiffs’ opportunities for advancement have been stifled,” the lawsuit says, and “their reputations have been permanently damaged.”

Farah, hired in 2013, has worked on patrol in the West and Central Divisions and also with the Guns and Gangs Unit. He is currently a Detective in the Drug Unit Major Investigations Branch.

“Farah grew up in public housing in Ottawa after his parents immigrated to Canada in 1986 when he was a child. He holds a degree in Police Foundations from Algonquin College and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University,” the complaint states, noting that he is the first member of his family to earn a university degree and that he joined the police force after years of service as a youth worker and special constable.

Islam was hired by OPS in 2016. Born in Somalia, he came to Canada in 1995 at the age of 13 as an unaccompanied minor during the Somali Civil War. He has lived in Ottawa since then. Before joining the police force, he was a social worker.

“On several occasions, the OPS has invoked the knowledge and skills of Islam to ease tensions between racialized communities and the OPS,” the lawsuit says.

Islam’s initial application to the Ottawa Police Department was rejected by police background checker Christina Benson. The decision was reversed and Islam was offered a job, after which Benson resigned in protest. In her resignation letter, she said that Islam was an “unsuitable” candidate for police and that his appointment “is being made for political reasons to appease the Somali community.”

The indictment alleges that when Islam began cooperating with the OPS, “his every move was under scrutiny” and “negative rumors and gossip about him circulated.”

Ahmed was born in Somalia and immigrated to Canada with his family in 1990. He lived in public housing and was raised by a single parent. He was hired by the OPS in 2013. He is involved in training new recruits and was called upon to improve the police department’s outreach team and increase the recruitment of diverse candidates, the lawsuit says.

Ali was hired by OPS in 2018. Born in Somalia, he immigrated to Canada with his family when he was eight and grew up in public housing. The lawsuit states that he has been designated as an “ambassador” for the police department and that he specializes in helping vulnerable victims report sexual assaults.

Houssein was hired by OPS in 2019. He was born in Ottawa and has lived here his entire life. In the 2022 trial, he “demonstrated immense courage when he went to the scene of an active triple stabbing” when he “stopped the assailant and saved the life of one of the victims.”

Farah and Islam are cousins ​​and have “dozens” of other cousins, the indictment says, including “gang-affiliated” Bile Khandid and Bayle Khandid.

The lawsuit says Farah revealed that connection when he joined the gun and gang unit in 2018. In July 2021, Islam was ordered to the police station while on paternity leave and was questioned about Bile and Bayle. Islam said he was “aware of their criminal lifestyle, and that he had no relationship with them and had not seen or spoken to them in years.”

He was told that OPS was watching the home of Bile and Bayle’s mother, who is Farah and Islam’s aunt, and that Islam’s personal vehicle was seen outside the house. Islam said his aunt was old and sick and that he was supporting her. The cousins ​​who were connected to the gang did not live there and were not there when he was there, he said.

The lawsuit goes on to state that Islam was asked ‘whether the fact that Somali youths are killing each other in Ottawa is due to problems in Somali tribal culture.

“Islam found the idea that the murder of Somali youth in Ottawa was ‘tribal’ to be racist and offensive. Somali youth grew up in Ottawa without any knowledge of Somali tribal systems or culture and the question was intended to insinuate that Somali youth were barbarians,” the lawsuit said.

In April 2020, a racist meme circulated within the OPS, featuring photos of various OPS officers, primarily racialized men, with the caption “Ottawa Police Service: We are always looking for… everyone.” Farah’s image appeared in the center of the meme.

“The meme was created by an OPS member and suggests that the officers in the image, and racialized officers in general, were not hired by the OPS based on merit and are not qualified to be police officers,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit alleges that Farah faced retaliation when she spoke out against another racist meme that circulated in a gun and gang unit group chat during the height of the 2020 protests following the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

The lawsuit alleges that the wiretapping and surveillance were conducted in retaliation against the five officers “for their advocacy on behalf of racialized OPS and community members.” According to the complaint, the wiretapping activity began shortly after Farah raised the issue of the racist meme.

The officers’ surveillance was common knowledge within the police department, the lawsuit alleges, and the officers subsequently experienced “odd interactions with other OPS members.”

For example, Houssein was told by a sergeant major that he “never worried” about Houssein, and the senior official said, “I’m serious, I always knew you were good.”

Another sergeant told Ahmed it was “not right” that the “higher ups” were “sixing” the “boys,” referring to wiretaps and general orders, which are permitted under Part 6 of the Criminal Code. Then, in December 2021, an inspector told Ahmed: “What happened to you guys is f—-d up,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit alleges that the officers’ surveillance permanently affected their chances at law enforcement. In January 2021, Ahmed was promoted to the homicide unit, “a coveted position and the pinnacle of police work — the highest level of investigative assignments.”

Ahmed was congratulated for “breaking the glass ceiling for Black and racialized officers,” the lawsuit said, but “he was suddenly removed from the homicide unit in March 2021, without explanation, and his white colleague was immediately brought back. Ahmed felt humiliated, disrespected, and embarrassed. Ahmed believes this was a result of the constant surveillance.”

All claimants – the five officers and some of their family members – were notified in the fall of 2021 that they had been victims of wiretapping of private communications, which was authorized by a judge in April 2021.

The three family members of the officers, who are also named in the lawsuit, were “targeted” by police “solely because of their relationships with the officers who are plaintiffs.”

The family members no longer trust the police and “are appalled by the abuse of authority by members of the OPS,” the lawsuit says. They also “fear for the safety of Officer Plaintiffs who work in an environment where their colleagues view them with suspicion.”

The lawsuit alleges that the wiretapping violated the officers’ rights because it “was motivated by discriminatory stereotypes based on their race and Somali origin.” The lawsuit also says that the police “violated the plaintiffs’ right to liberty and security of person in a manner inconsistent with principles of fundamental justice.”

The claims in the lawsuit have not yet been tested in court.