Can’t say enough good things about Jason Gratl. No surprise he would take a case like this considering his involvement in the Missing Women Commission.
“The remarkable thing here is that the government institutions that were supposed to enact or implement policies to ensure that their own employees like Mr. Fisher would not be able to re-victimize these women utterly failed,” Gratl told Global News.
From article published June 2019.
By Catherine Urquhart Global News
Posted February 7, 2024 6:15 pm
1 min read
In 2018, former Vancouver Police Department detective Jim Fisher was jailed for 20 months after pleading guilty to two counts of breach of trust and one count of sexual exploitation.
Now, newly released court documents reveal disturbing allegations from two additional young women, which never resulted in charges.
Lawyer Jason Gratl represents the two women in a civil suit against Fisher and the City of Vancouver, which acts for the Vancouver Police Department.
“The guilty pleas are in my view the tip of the iceberg,” he told Global News.
The suit was launched in 2019 but many allegations were unknown due to publication bans.
In the newly released documents, it’s alleged that while Fisher was with the VPD’s Counter Exploitation Unit, he coerced sexual favors from the women, who were sex trafficking victims.
“This is a horrendous situation,” Gratl said.
“The Vancouver Police Department Counter Exploitation Unit was set up specifically to establish trust between very vulnerable street-involved girls with a history of abuse.”
One of the women alleges “the first incident occurred in a vehicle outside (a) residence … the second occurred in the visitor parking lot at Grouse Mountain,” according to court filings.
Another woman alleges she was “sexually assaulted in his vehicle.”
Investigators determined “through a search of Fisher’s cellular phone, the search of … phone … shows Fisher in the area,” according to the suit.
When contacted by Global News, Fisher stated by email, “I have no further comments in regard to matters that are still before the courts.”
Allegations of wrongdoing have also been denied in statements of defence filed by Fisher and the city of Vancouver.
None of these allegations have been tested in court.
More background on story from June 2019:
New allegations brought against former VPD detective convicted of sexual exploitation
By Srushti Gangdev CKNW
Posted June 18, 2019 11:31 am
2 min read
An ex-Vancouver police department officer sentenced to 20 months in prison for sexual exploitation and breach of trust has been served with two new lawsuits.
Vancouver-based lawyer Jason Gratl is representing two women who allege that James Fisher kissed and groped them while acting as their victim support worker while they were helping the Vancouver Police Department investigate convicted pimp Reza Moazami, who had victimized them as underage prostitutes.
Fisher led the investigation of Moazami, according to court documents filed in the B.C. Supreme Court on June 17.
“In the course of purporting to assist and defend and protect these young women, he, Jim Fisher, in fact, victimized them,” Gratl said.
The women, identified in court documents as F.A. and F.B., are accusing Fisher of kissing and groping them. They say Fisher implied that if they told anyone what was happening, it might hurt the investigation against Moazami.
“Fisher threatened F.A. that if she told anyone about his abuse of trust then [the case against] Moazami might be undermined and Moazami would go free,” reads the claim filed by F.A.
“Fisher knew that F.A. was afraid that if Moazami was free, Moazami would find her and harm her.”
The lawsuit claims that Fisher violated policies by being alone with the women (rather than working in a male/female officer team), contacting them with unusual frequency or for outside the investigation, and by cultivating inappropriate intimate relationships.
The B.C. government is named in the claims because Fisher was providing witness support and counselling to the women on behalf of the province.
The City of Vancouver has been named in the lawsuit as well. Gratl said Fisher’s superior officers knew or should have known that Fisher was violating standard policies and practices and stepped in.
“The remarkable thing here is that the government institutions that were supposed to enact or implement policies to ensure that their own employees like Mr. Fisher would not be able to re-victimize these women utterly failed,” Gratl told Global News.
The women are seeking damages for psychological injuries, violations of their sexual integrity, loss of confidence in police and prosecutors, and other alleged harms.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Last August, Fisher was sentenced to 20 months in jail and two years probation for kissing two women who were witnesses in a separate prostitution investigation against convicted pimp Michael Bannon. One of the women was 17 at the time. Fisher pleaded guilty to breach of trust and sexual exploitation.
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