Complaint hearing for fired MJPS officer adjourned again

MOOSE JAW — A discipline hearing for former Moose Jaw policeman Taylor Mickleborough has been adjourned again so both legal counsels can familiarize themselves with the file after accepting it recently.

Jay Watson, the hearing officer for the Saskatchewan Police Commission, Adam Touet, the defence lawyer for Mickleborough, and Mitch Holash, the legal counsel for the acting police chief (Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners), met by phone on Feb. 20 to discuss the situation.

Rick Bourassa, former chief of the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS), issued a letter in November laying out the reasons why he dismissed Mickleborough, Holash said. Later, Destiny Diehl, the MJPS’s in-house legal counsel, announced that she had a conflict of interest and couldn’t handle the situation since she could be called as a witness on some issues.

Holash noted that he was recently retained as the police board’s legal counsel, had just taken carriage of the matter, and was “ankle-deep in the file.” He acknowledged that this situation was “long (in) the tooth,” considering Bourassa had fired Mickleborough in September.

Mickleborough was a 24-year member of the MJPS and was initially suspended around August 2024 before being fired about a month later. He was the fifth-highest-paid officer in 2023 at $170,473.48.

Meanwhile, Holash said Diehl was currently in Florida attending her children’s football tournament and wouldn’t be back until early March, so his ability to acquire more information from her was limited.

“This is a matter that obviously has … lots of evidence, and apparently, it even stretches over a lengthy timeframe as well,” Holash continued, adding that he needed to review the disclosure before he could speak with Touet about the next steps.

Touet agreed that the file was taking longer than normal to address, while he alleged that Diehl had agreed to give the defence the file and its evidence by Jan. 31. While he understood that her circumstances had changed and she was no longer handling the file, he felt there was an urgency to proceed quickly.

The defence lawyer added that a short adjournment was acceptable to ensure the file kept rolling ahead and there were no more delays.

Holash said he would have a better understanding of the file and could manage expectations with the situation by the end of the first week of March.

The two legal counsels agreed to speak more about the matter during a private meeting on Friday, Feb. 21, while Watson scheduled the next public phone hearing for Thursday, Feb. 27, at 8:30 a.m.