A second conference call in as many days to address one of two discreditable conduct charges against a veteran Barrie police officer has also led to the proceedings also being put off until January.
Insp. Valarie Gates was charged in June with the second count of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act related to an alleged on-duty incident, according to police.
Details around the allegations have not been specified during the proceedings.
Hearing officer Greg Walton noted Gates had satisfied her first-appearance requirements in June, and at that time a conference call was scheduled for July 31.
The matter was then put over until September, however that date was ultimately vacated by email at the request of counsel. The call had initially been rescheduled for Oct. 31, however that date was also vacated at the request of counsel to address an ongoing disclosure request, Walton noted.
Gates was not on this morning's call, but her lawyer, Joanne Mulcahy, was present on her behalf.
“I believe at the time the last vacating occurred it was because we had just provided a fairly extensive amount of disclosure to Ms. Mulcahy and she needed additional time to review it,” prosecutor Jessica Barrow told Walton on the call. “Shortly in advance of the last conference call date, I received a pretty extensive disclosure request for additional material.”
Barrow said her office is in the process of putting all of that information together, but noted, "it will take time."
“It’s a pretty meticulous list of detailed things, so it’s taking some time,” she said.
Barrow also said that during a conversation with Mulcahy earlier this week, the two have agreed to put the matter over until January, subject to Walton’s approval.
The goal by then, she said, is that all disclosure issues will have been addressed and the matter can then move forward.
Gates was first charged in December 2023 with one charge of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act. The second charge, according to police officials, was laid in June 2024.
Both charges are related to the same series of alleged events, however the specific nature of the allegations against Gates remains unclear.
Police have said the charge falls under Section 2(1)(a)(xi) of the Police Services Act.
Gates, who is married to Barrie Police Chief Rich Johnston, has spent a large part of her policing career working in domestic violence, as well as in areas of mental health and child/youth advocacy.
The call regarding the second charge is scheduled to take place Friday, Jan. 17 beginning at 8:30 a.m.
A call to address the first charge is scheduled to take place the day before, also beginning at 8:30 a.m.
