Ottawa police detective found guilty of discreditable conduct in unauthorized investigations into child deaths

The sign outside Ottawa Police headquarters on Elgin St. is seen in this undated photo. (Aaron Reid/CTV News Ottawa)

An Ottawa Police Service discipline hearing has found a local detective guilty of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act over accessing files in infant death cases for which she had no investigative role.

Det. Helen Grus was accused initiating an unauthorized project between June 2020 and January 2022, in which she accessed the records management system (RMS) files of nine infant or child death cases in which she had no investigative role or responsibility and failed to record her involvement or finding in the files.

She was also accused of interfering with an investigation when she contacted the father of a deceased baby in January 2022 to inquire about the COVID-19 vaccination status of the mother, without the lead detective’s knowledge or permission.

The disciplinary hearing is not a criminal court and Grus’s charge is not a criminal one.

The hearing, which began in August 2022, was led by retired superintendent Chris Renwick. Grus pleaded not guilty.

Grus told the hearing she suspected there could be a link between COVID-19 vaccinations and a perceived increase in infant deaths and believed further investigation was required to rule out any adverse effects from the vaccine. She also said she suspected potential criminal negligence on behalf of the federal government and public health officials, who assured pregnant and breastfeeding women that the vaccine was safe, claiming there was no data to assert such a claim.

According to Renwick’s report, the hearing into Grus’s conduct heard that she believed that she could not approach her immediate chain of command because of a directive not to discuss vaccines within the offices of the sexual assault and child abuse (SACA) unit.

In a document published Tuesday, Renwick said it was reasonable to believe Grus’s actions brought discredit to the police service.

“A reasonable person would conclude that Det. Grus misused the authority of her position and work-related access to the personal medical information stored within a police RMS databank system to advance a position on a topic that was known to be divisive and controversial, despite a strongly held personal conviction that it was in the public’s interests as public COVID policy was putting infants at risk,” Renwick wrote.

“I also find that a dispassionate, reasonable person would conclude that Det. Grus’s telephone call to the parent had the real potential of bringing discredit to the reputation of the OPS, if it became known, as it undermined the confidence of the family in the ability of the health and medical community to protect their child and to determine a cause of death. Sensitivity and privacy factors also come into play, as well as the potential of the introduction of guilt by parents for their vaccination decisions.”

The report went on to say that there were “no checks and balances, no consultation with the coroner or medical community, and the criminal inquiries were undertaken without the knowledge or authorization” of the Ottawa Police Service.

Renwick said the evidence presented to the hearing shows that Grus was not assigned any of the nine infant death investigations by her sergeant or case manager, nor were they formally self-assigned by herself, which sometimes occurs on weekends or after hours.

“Det. Grus was not formally assigned the investigative task of conducting a criminal negligence investigation into the actions of public health officials in their managing and application of vaccine policy,” Renwick wrote in his decision.

“The evidence further established that her immediate chain of command (SACA sergeant and staff sergeant) was uninformed and unaware of her investigative inquires, as well as her SACA colleagues who were assigned as leads to the nine death investigations.”

The document does not mention any professional consequences for Grus as a result of the finding. Grus remains an employee of the Ottawa Police Service, an OPS spokesperson said.

Ottawa Police Association President Matthew Cox said in an email the union has not been notified of what penalty the Ottawa Police Service is seeking, nor when a decision will be made. He added Grus’s legal team is reviewing the decision to determine her next steps.

In 2023, the Ottawa Police Service Board settled with one of the families whose baby was born and died in June 2021.

Hearings ‘difficult to manage’

The hearings were virtual at first, but eventually moved to in-person meetings in August 2023.

Renwick wrote that the hearings’ tone was frequently “divisive and emotionally charged” and was “extremely difficult to manage and navigate to its conclusion.”

He said there were disagreements over disclosure and witness lists, there was often name calling and accusations thrown about, and little to no cooperation between the counsel as parties to the hearing.

Renwick wrote that he was ruling specifically on the accusation of discreditable conduct, and said several days were spent hearing what he called irrelevant evidence that was outside the scope of the specific accusation.

“The frequency and level of objections while witnesses were testifying was, in my experience, unprecedented, and added several unnecessary days to the 23 and a half days of hearings,” he said.

Further, as the hearings were open to the public, proceedings had to be stopped on several occasions to address disruptions, including two cases where someone had to be removed from the room.

After starting in August 2022, the final disposition hearing date was not held until Jan. 14, 2025.

Decision with reasons