RCMP officer says colleague didn’t apologize for nickname, contradicts his testimony

An RCMP officer has told a code-of-conduct hearing in British Columbia that she never received an apology for demeaning comments about her weight, contradicting testimony given under oath by a fellow Mountie earlier this year.

Constables Mersad Mesbah, Ian Solven and Philip Dick face allegations of discreditable conduct and that they used racist, homophobic and sexist comments in group chat messages, in a hearing that resumed in Richmond, B.C., Monday after the hearing was delayed in March.

The delay was attributed to disclosure issues and an unspecified “situation” involving Solven, who allegedly lied when he testified about apologizing to the female officer for making hurtful comments about her weight.

The woman officer, whose name is protected by a publication ban, told the code-of-conduct hearing on Monday that she learned about Solven’s testimony in March through a friend, who texted her about how he claimed that he “came clean” to her about the remarks and apologized to her.

“I was pretty shocked. I was angry. I didn’t know what was being said in terms of the personal comments, but I just was very shocked that he would say something that didn’t happen,” she said.

“I told her that that absolutely wasn’t true.”

She said she didn’t know what to do after learning her name came up in the hearing, and consulted people close to her about her options since the proceedings had already begun.

The woman spoke through tears as she testified.

She recalled speaking with a superior after learning about Solven’s claims that they’d spoken about his inappropriate personal comments, that they had laughed them off and maintained a good relationship in which they talked “regularly.”

She said they followed each other on Instagram and exchanged messages over the years, but she said Solven only became “very nice” after he was suspended and was “noticeably more” communicative afterwards.

“My feeling is that none of our communication was genuine on his end. And I believe, and this is my perception, that he knew how bad this was,” she said.

“He knew that it was going to come out and he was trying to butter me up. I don’t believe that any of this was genuine anymore.”

She testified that Solven never apologized and she “vehemently” disagreed that they were friends as suggested by Solven’s lawyer, who questioned her about a statement she gave to a superior officer in March after learning about the apology claim.

“That’s not something that I would ever forget and I probably truthfully would never (have) spoken to him again. It would have been extremely hurtful and not something I could get over,” she said.

The officer said she maintained a working relationship with Solven. She said she didn’t think he treated people with compassion, but he was good at the “exciting things.”

Solven’s lawyer, Brad Kielmann, questioned the officer, trying to highlight “contradictions” between her statement to a superior and Instagram messages between her and Solven over several years.

He asked her several times whether she thought Solven should lose his job, but she said it wasn’t her decision to make.

“You knew about the allegations that Const. Solven and the others are confronting about racism and homophobia and sexism, correct? And you thought Constable Solven should lose his job over that. Isn’t that true?” Kielmann said.

“Yes, yes, I don’t think he’s a great police officer, if that’s what you’re asking, yeah,” she replied.

She said she unfollowed Solven on Instagram and removed him as a follower “immediately” back in March after learning about his testimony.

The hearing then heard testimony from Const. Cameron Lang, who was prolific in a Signal message group with the officers, and though he had originally faced similar allegations of misconduct, those allegations were found to be time-barred.

Lang told the hearing that he was surprised about how “kind of toxic the workplace was” when he joined the Port Coquitlam zone of the detachment in 2020.

“You get there and then it’s a lot of interpersonal animosity, a lot of complaining, both about other members in the zone, out of the zone, members of the public, the RCMP, just normal human experiences, right?” Lang said. “Everybody goes to work and feels frustrations, but I was surprised at how prevalent that was when I got there.:

Lang testified that dark humour and sarcasm are used as a coping mechanism in a job involving dark emotions, but said some comments made in the group chat by Dick were “vile and racist,” and also took issue with homophobic remarks by Solven.

The allegations that set off the hearing stem from a complaint made in May 2021 by Coquitlam RCMP member Sam Sodhi, who alerted his superiors to allegedly racist, sexist and harassing comments made on police mobile data terminals and on a Signal group chat.

Police officers called as witnesses at the hearing described Sodhi as friendly, but said he struggled with files upon returning to work after an injury and had a tense and argumentative relationship with Solven.

The hearing is still in the allegation phase and if the three accused officers’ evidence and testimony by others is done by the end of the week, conduct adjudicator Louise Morel said the hearing would reconvene in October for submissions on whether the allegations have been established.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press