The high-profile case of a female Toronto police officer alleging workplace sexual harassment is now in limbo, after the final hearing dates have been abruptly cancelled in the homestretch of the much-delayed process.Five years after Const. Heather McWilliam filed a complaint to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, McWilliam was told Monday that the adjudicator will no longer be available to hear the remainder of the case — a blow that could mean 34 days’ worth of evidence will be tossed, and the hearing restarted. The development comes two weeks before Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner was scheduled to testify at the hearing, which involves allegations of years of sexual harassment and humiliation by supervising officers at 23 Division, the north Etobicoke detachment headed by Taverner.Taverner was expected to be among the final witnesses called — if not the last — before closing arguments, which would wrap up a hearing that began in October 2016. The tribunal has heard from 32 witnesses.Calling the latest development “outrageous,” McWilliam’s lawyer, Kate Hughes, said the tribunal may have to restart the entire hearing with a new adjudicator, in part because the hearing has not been fully transcribed. All the while, McWilliam — “a bright, promising officer” who is off on sick leave after being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder — has put her life on hold since filing her complaint in 2014.“She was doing this to set a precedent so it wouldn’t be so hard for other women,” Hughes said in a written statement to the Star. “Tragically, here she is, almost half a decade later, being forced to start over.”Read more: Toronto police staff sergeant denies commenting on female officer’s weightToronto police officer tells tribunal she was subjected to constant sexual harassmentOpinion | Rosie DiManno: Human Rights complaint shows little has changed at Toronto P ...
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