Guilty Plea On Unrelated Matter - Raises Concerns For City Employees
By Robert Thomas
A former top City of Moose Jaw manager pleading guilty to sexual assault has re-opened questions about his conduct while in the employ of the City by at least one of the workers he supervised.
“The City needs to come clean and tell what really happened here,” Sture's former underlying told MJ Independent speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not given permission to speak to the media.
The City's communication policy does not allow employees to address the media without receiving prior approval.
MJ Independent has agreed to keep the employees identitities who first spoke to us and leaked documents in 2018 about Sture confidential and continue to do so.
The concerns raised deal with the alleged actions of former City of Moose Jaw Transit manager Mark Sture while he was in the employ of the City of Moose Jaw.
Mr Sture ceased employment with the City of Moose Jaw on February 14, 2018 - the sexual assault charge he plead guilty to occurred on February 24, 2022 at an unnamed Moose Jaw business.
Guilty Plea To Sexual Assault
On Tuesday February 7th, 2023 former City of Moose Jaw Transit manager Mark Vincent Sture plead guilty to sexual assault of a co-worker at an unnamed Moose Jaw business.
Sture's guilty plea had nothing to do with his employment with the City of Moose Jaw but his conduct at an unnamed Moose Jaw business.
Conduct that had his employer terminate Sture's employment at the time the incident was reported.
In a joint submission Sture received a one year suspended sentence which included probation.
The terms of his probation include the 60 year old Mortlach resident keep the peace, not be near the victim, provide a DNA sample and attend sex offender programming.
If Sture follows the conditions of his probation he will end up with no criminal record.
This is the second conditional sentence that Sture will serve resulting in not having a criminal record so long as he follows the probation conditions.
According to a report by Moose Jaw Today not having a criminal record was a major factor in Moose Jaw Provincial Court Judge Daryl Rayner agreeing to honour the joint submission.
Sture did not have a criminal record despite pleading guilty in March 2012 to common assault of a female worker when he served as public works manager for the City of Estevan.
According to a report in the Estevan Mercury the Crown alleged in 2012 Sture had invited a female employee to his office and immediately closed the door.
The Crown alleged Sture then sat down beside the City of Estevan female employee and rubbed his hand on her legs and thigh. He then hugged her and the female employee made an excuse and left the office.
Sture's defense attorney denied Sture had ever touched the female complainants leg but was acting “like a father” figure to her the Estevan Mercury reported.
In a joint submission concerning the charges he faced in Estevan the Crown and Defense agreed to a conditional discharge where Sture would serve a six month probationary sentence.
If Sture followed the conditions of conditional sentence he would not have a criminal record.
Additionally by pleading guilty one unnamed charge was dropped by the Crown.
Sture was terminated by the City of Estevan but was hired by the City of Moose Jaw as the new transit manager despite the Human Resources department being made aware of the Estevan conviction.
Allegations Of Sexual Harassment
During his tenure as a department head with the City of Moose Jaw sexual harassments allegations - not proven in court - were privately leveled against Sture.
Allegations which according to documents leaked to MJ Independent triggered at least one internal confidential investigation into Sture's interactions with a now former City of Moose Jaw female employee.
In a document leaked to MJ Independent concerns were raised about an incident involving a female employee who had confided the details of incidents with a City safety officer.
The alleged victim in this case went to Diane Campbell OHS officer to tell her story. Ms Campbell reported it as she was obligated to do to Al Bromley - the former City of Moose Jaw human resources department manager.
The alleged victim did not want what she told Ms Campbell to go any further.
Email Of Concern To Al Bromley
In a December 8, 2017 email to Bromley the investigation into Sture's alleged misconduct and the findings are discussed directly.
The email - MJ Independent is protecting anonymity of the author - references an earlier private meeting between Bromley and the author about the findings of an investigation into Sture's alleged actions.
“I am extremely incensed with the manner in which this matter has been dealt with,” the email states.
The email author is incensed with the way the City is handling the situation by allowing Sture to remain in a supervisory position and giving him a retirement luncheon.
“I believe I understand in the way Mark is making his exit however I wonder if enabling him to remain with impunity not only working in a continued managerial capacity but in the exact environment in which his violation/s occurred (and on many occasions with the person he offended against) but also enabling a "retirement luncheon" celebrating his retirement.
My view Al, is this may impede on any female staff coming forward seeking assistance with the expectations they will be protected and heard,” the email stated.
The email author went further pointing out in the writer's opinion there seemed to be two standards - one for management and one for employees.
“This further reinforces the notion the city has two standards. One for staff and one for management,” the email to Bromley stated.
The email further pointed out the punishment generally given to employees after an investigation found them in the wrong was not what was happening to Sture.
“Based on past practices, the employee would be put on administrative leave (either with or without pay) and forbidden to enter City property,” the email stated.
The email also decried what the City was doing and the effect it would have on the workplace.
“This process has put us back years in relation to supporting a vulnerable group.
How can we have confidence in those we look to for protection and guidance. What of further potential inappropriate behaviour?” the email author asked.
Despite the results of the internal investigation Sture continued on as employee of the City of Moose Jaw and was given a retirement luncheon.
A retirement luncheon was held for Sture and the alleged sexual harassment victim\s were invited to attend.
Sture was not fired by the City of Moose Jaw but simply allowed to retire.
Request For Comment
On August 16, 2018 MJ Independent sent an email to the City requesting comment not only the documents leaked to us but also the things we found out during our probe.
Documents and witnesses pointing to the alleged sexual harassment by Sture was not a one time incident but went on for months.
Additionally it was discovered the City, by allowing Sture to retire and provide him a retirement luncheon, was hiding what allegedly happened from potential future employers.
The City of Moose Jaw did not respond.
Following Mr Sture's pleading guilty to sexual assault and the concerns raised in light of that conviction we sent the same email with additional questions to the City and received a response.
The City did not confirm nor deny the circumstances nor sequence of events or the documents leaked to us as not being genuine.
The City responded it went against policy to comment on confidential personnel matters.
The response also stated the City had a strict anti-harassment policy.
A full screenshot of the response is provided below to clarify the City's response.
MJ Independent contacted Estes Fonkalsrud for comment about the allegations surrounding his client Mr Sture while employed for the City of Moose Jaw.
He politely declined comment.
Employee Concerns
The employee we spoke to said he did not believe anything had changed within the City's operations that a similar situation alleged could not happen again.
The employee said given the results of the internal investigation the City did on the Sture allegations plus the recent guilty plea in court for sexual assault - albeit for an unrelated occurance - the City should provide a complete report to the community of what really happened.
The least they could do is to apologize to the transit employees who tried to stop it and for “the hell” they went through.
Without doing anything to change the climate it was simply sweeping the allegations under the rug and it could easily happen again, the employee claimed.
The Victim/s Of Alleged Sexual Harassment
In full disclosure when MJ Independent received the leaked documents we started an investigative story into the allegations surrounding Sture.
We sent an email asking questions to the City of Moose Jaw. Questions which were not answered.
We spoke to a victim who asked us not to continue and not to publish the story because of the impact it would have on her life.
Given the effect Sture's actions had on his victim in Estevan we reluctantly abandoned the story after four months of work.
Ethically as media MJ Independent is not in the business of further victimizing people who are victims.