A veteran detective with the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) is being demoted for two years for discreditable conduct after a disciplinary tribunal found her guilty of invading the privacy of families by inappropriately accessing the files of dead children and asking one parent about a mother's vaccination status.
Const. Helen Grus was suspended in 2022 over allegations that she had engaged in "an unauthorized project" by accessing case files to which she wasn't assigned.
She was also accused of interfering in an investigation by calling and speaking with the father of a deceased infant to inquire about the COVID-19 vaccination status of the child's mother.
Grus was found guilty of discreditable conduct in March 2025, and earlier this week was handed a 24-month demotion from the rank of first-class constable to second-class constable.
In his decision to levy the two-year demotion, retired OPS superintendent Chris Renwick said the penalty was needed to reaffirm that police take abuse of power and bias-motivated actions seriously.
"It would be most concerning for members of the public to learn that unauthorized criminal inquiries … were made by a police detective, motivated by personal conviction, on such a sensitive topic of infant deaths, and the accessing of protected medical records for this purpose," Renwick said in his decision.
Renwick said Grus had "seriously damaged" the reputation of the OPS, with "the real potential for further damage," adding that she was "grossly naïve not to comprehend the severity of her independent actions."
Prosecutors had argued for the two-year demotion, telling the tribunal that Grus had intentionally sidestepped the rules in a "blatant disregard for the necessary checks and balances on the otherwise extensive powers given to police officers."
Demotion is second in severity only to dismissal among the range of disciplinary options available to the tribunal.
Grus, whose case has attracted attention and support from vaccine skeptics across Canada, maintained she had difficulty understanding why her actions were discreditable.
Her defence said they viewed the disciplinary process "through the lens of reprisal for whistle-blowing," despite the tribunal finding no evidence to support that view.
The 24-month demotion will cost Grus an estimated $30,000 in lost income, plus another $25,000 in what her defence team called "lost opportunities" since her initial suspension.
When he found Grus guilty of discreditable conduct last year, Renwick took aim at some of the behaviour he'd witnessed throughout the hearing, saying poor decorum by counsel had led to "name calling and accusations," with constant objections adding several days to the process.
David Fraser is an Ottawa-based journalist for CBC News who previously reported in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
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