Judge dismisses disciplinary rulings against 2 Cape Breton police officers

Disciplinary decisions against two Cape Breton Regional Police officers have been struck down by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice, who also refused to discipline other officers on the force over the same incident. 

The decisions relate to the arrest of murder suspect Christopher Garnier in February 2017.

Garnier was free on conditions while he awaited trial for the killing of Truro police officer Catherine Campbell in September 2015.

Garnier was subsequently convicted of second-degree murder in Campbell's death. But in February 2017 he was under house arrest at either his father's home in Bedford, N.S., or his mother's home in Cape Breton.

Early on the morning of Feb. 18, 2017, Cape Breton Regional Police officers knocked on the door of the home where Garnier was supposed to be staying to see if he was abiding by a curfew. They got no answer.

The next day, officers returned to the house and arrested Garnier, alleging he had breached his conditions by failing to present himself at the door the night before.

Garnier was eventually released to await trial. But his father, Vince Garnier, filed complaints against the officers who'd participated in the arrest.

The Nova Scotia Police Review Board eventually ruled that the officers had breached their code of conduct during the arrest, failing to get either a warrant or prior permission before entering the home.

"The consequence of that arrest was that Christopher Garnier was denied his freedom for almost two months, and the board is satisfied that there was a disciplinary default on the part of constables MacSween and Walker," the board noted in its disciplinary decision.

"The board orders that a reprimand be entered for breach of ss. 24(7) of the code of conduct."

The officers, constables Dennis MacSween and Troy Walker, asked for a judicial review.

In a decision released Wednesday, Justice Jamie Campbell overturned the board's ruling. He questioned the reasoning the board used in reaching its conclusions.

"The board does not provide any explanation for why the arrest of Christopher Garnier was …. not based on reasonable grounds. He was denied his freedom for more than two months, but that does not make the arrest either illegal or grounds for discipline," Campbell wrote.

Vince Garnier had also asked that two other officers be disciplined because they had entered the Cape Breton property without permission to take photographs of the entrances that police knocked at during the compliance check.

The board declined to discipline those two officers, and Campbell agreed.

Christopher Garnier met Catherine Campbell (no relation to the judge) at a downtown Halifax bar in September 2015.

They ended up in an apartment in central Halifax where Garnier murdered Campbell.

He then placed her body in a green bin and wheeled it through the streets, before disposing of her remains under the Macdonald Bridge that spans Halifax harbour. Garnier was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2021.