Shaun Newman Podcast - #1120 - Helen Grus

Episode Date: September 1, 2026

Detective Helen Grus is a 23-year veteran of the Ottawa Police Service who joined in 2003 and spent years in the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse unit protecting children. She noticed what she believed ...was a sharp rise in infant deaths and pursued questions she considered part of her duty as an investigator. After a lengthy disciplinary process she received a two-year demotion yet remains on duty in the robbery unit, stating she will continue serving the community. Cornerstone Forum 26’https://shaunnewmanpodcast.substack.com/Silver Gold Bull Links:Website: https://silvergoldbull.ca/Email: SNP@silvergoldbull.comText Grahame: (587) 441-9100Bow Valley Credit UnionBitcoin: www.bowvalleycu.com/en/personal/investing-wealth/bitcoin-gatewayEmail: welcome@BowValleycu.com Get your voice heard: Text Shaun 587-217-8500

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Starting point is 00:00:11 This is James Lindsay. This is Vance Crow and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Tuesday. How's everybody doing today? By the time you're tuning into this, we will be on our way to New Brunswick. So the stop in Quebec has. has been enjoyable and beautiful, beautiful part of the country,
Starting point is 00:00:35 and lots and lots of things to do and see here as we've been checking out some of the scenery and some of the old buildings, the churches have been unbelievable. If I'm, I don't know how to put words to it, but regardless, we're on our way to New Brunswick. So before we get too far into it, let's talk about silver gold bowl, shall we? When it comes to in-house solutions,
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Starting point is 00:03:51 and fine-tuned in Chesterner, Alberta. That's Zebs Performance Restoration. They deliver expert classic car restoration, custom exhaust, and performance upgrades that keep your ride reliable and roaring. That says Zane and his dad, Brian, and you can find them at Zeebs.ca, okay? We are on our way to New Brunswick. That is coming up here, well, as you're listening to this. So, you know, another province down and another one up.
Starting point is 00:04:17 We don't spend a whole lot of time in New Brunswick. It is a couple of quick days, and then we're into PEI. So it's a fast province as we work our way to the East Coast. I can say that last night, it was a bit chilly. It was a bit chilly. We were in, I think it's the Laurentian Mountains, and, well, in the middle of the night, she cools off. That is for darn, that is for certain.
Starting point is 00:04:42 Darn certain? I don't know. Mela's staring at me and laughing. I don't know. One of those. Anyways, that's what I got for you. Hope everybody's doing well. Happy Tuesday, and let's get on to that tale of the tape.
Starting point is 00:04:59 Today's guest is a 23-year veteran of the Ottawa Police Service. I'm talking about Detective Helen Gruse. So buckle up. Here we go. Welcome to Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by Helen Grus. Am I close? Close.
Starting point is 00:05:21 Shorter old. Now, you have to hold the mic up to your mouth. Are we already filming? Yes, we are. Helen, Ellen Grus. I don't know. Not gross, gross, gross. Grus.
Starting point is 00:05:32 It's all good. I'm trying, folks. I love to get names right, and sometimes I struggle. So thank you for doing this. And to the audience, I'd love to tell you where we are. Maybe Helen can, because I certainly can't. We picked a middle location. I drove back from my time in Montreal, and we met relatively halfway.
Starting point is 00:05:55 So this is someday somebody will ask me where I interviewed you, I couldn't even point it out on a map. I picked a, we picked a center location, and then this morning as we're going, I'm like, I'm driving the coastline, which is absolutely gorgeous. And we found a park, a park bench, and here we sit. I mean, you can add in a few more things, if you like. We are actually, yeah, we're on the St. Lawrence in St. Zotique, Quebec. So it's, it is beautiful here.
Starting point is 00:06:21 Yeah, your accent is better than mine. Now, Helen, the first time you've been on the podcast, you have been suggested to me, Um, an awful lot. And, uh, it just, whatever reason hasn't happened. And then it wasn't going to happen again in Ottawa for a myriad of reasons. And my wife is sitting there last night. She's like, you're not going to go see her? I'm like, okay.
Starting point is 00:06:46 She's like, hey, I just know who you are. All right. All right. So I called you back up. Here we are. Um, and I appreciate you coming and doing this. But, uh, for the audience out west, but maybe just anywhere if they haven't heard, your story. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Sure. So I'm Helen Gros. I'm, um,
Starting point is 00:07:05 first of all, I pride myself that I'm a mother. I have three beautiful boys. And, uh, so on the, on the personal note, I, I'm a mom. I'm a community member, volunteer. I, I, I can stay very busy and very active. Um, at work, I'm a police officer. I've been a police officer for over 23 years now with the Ottawa Police Service. I've been in various roles and functions. The, since, um, um, I've been a police officer for, um, 2007 to 2016, I was in general investigations, and then I moved into the sexual assault, child abuse unit, acronym SACA, in our department. And it's in SACA that my journey to where we are today started, really.
Starting point is 00:07:46 And currently, actually, I am now in the Ottawa Police Robbery Unit. And a little bit back, my backstory here is that while I was in SACA, 2016 to 2016 to 2022, that's when the COVID pandemic was called back in March 2020. As we all know, worldwide, there were various mandates that were implemented, lockdowns. And as officers, police officers, many of us saw the detriment that it, like, it was detrimental to society, the lockdowns out of schools. But what really struck me in January 2022 was when a colleague of mine came to me saying, you know, I don't know what's going on, but we've had a doubling. tripling of baby deaths in our unit and that was very concerning a couple days later i actually had a
Starting point is 00:08:36 meeting a town hall meeting with our chief of police back then it was to do about to do with the pending mandates the vaccination mandates however because i was this concerned me if we have even any baby death is tragic so to hear that we may have had a doubling or tripling that was on my mind so that morning I actually before going to this town hall meeting with the chief I went and ran statistics in our Ottawa police database which is database which is called records management RMS system and when I queried the numbers from the two or three we typically had for the sudden unexpected deaths and infants we actually had six or seven now there was I think believe seven with a 22 case that had rolled into it so that was a concerning number and
Starting point is 00:09:28 Over and above that, there were also two of these specific cases of unexpected baby deaths where the parents had picked the baby up. It went limp and died in the parents' arms. That's a phenomenon that I've never seen before. It's horrific. I can't imagine what it was like for the parents. So I brought that up with the chief. And I was very explicit to say, I am not making any conclusions. I do not know what caused the doubling or tripling. But again, I was very articulate to state. I do not know what's causing these. Because unless there's a thorough investigation, we cannot know. And now speaking of thorough, when I was in those investigations, just querying the data, I noticed that some were not completed as per policy. We actually have what's called a sui questionnaire. It's a questionnaire with over a couple hundred questions around there that when a baby dies outside or any child under five,
Starting point is 00:10:28 This is specific for infant deaths. So when a child dies outside of the hospital, there's all these questions we must ask. And it ranges from, you know, what did the mother eat? What did the baby eat? Is she breastfeeding? Is she not? How did the baby? Like, where was it sleeping?
Starting point is 00:10:46 Because there's issues like there's choking. There's, you know, co-sleeping. Sometimes parents accidentally roll over on their babies. So tragic circumstances, but we have to ask every single question. So we can preserve that evidence. It may be helpful down the road, depending what the autopsy show. So I noticed that some of these sui questions learners were not attached to the cases, which is it's under policy that they have to be asked those questions,
Starting point is 00:11:11 and they should be attached. Further to that, one of the cases where the baby died in the parents' arms was concluded within 24 hours. There was no sui questionnaire. There was, well, and there was, more specifically, the coroner's report was not there, the preliminary autopsy report. So this detective had concluded this tragic death of a baby that the parents lost within 24 hours, not even waiting to see what the cause of death was ruled as by the pathologist, or waiting for toxicology, which takes months to come back. So that was concerning.
Starting point is 00:11:50 I actually So Sorry, it's been Four and a half years now So you don't have to apologize And the other thing is You can take your time Yeah
Starting point is 00:12:06 I'm like, I'm sitting here and I'm like Do I ask any questions or do I just let you go? So don't feel like You can't sit and take your time with it Totally okay Thank you Now and this is all actually in evidence At the Tribunal itself
Starting point is 00:12:20 That took almost Over 25 days of evidence and hearing dates, motions. So where I let off then, there was the second case where the parents picked up the baby. That one happened in the latter part of 2021. So I actually called the detective because that baby, through conversations in the SACA unit,
Starting point is 00:12:43 I learned that baby had an enlarged heart. And that actually, on the 17th of January, 2022, I tuned into Toronto Public Health. health site where Dan Hartman spoke of his son, Sean Hartman, who took the Pfizer vaccine in August 2021, had some adverse events, went to emerge, was sent home, and a few weeks later in September, the family found him deceased, 17 years old, healthy boy, other than what autopsy showed, was an enlarged heart. So when I saw that podcast, I immediately thought of one of these babies that had died in his parents' arms that it was found to have an enlarged heart.
Starting point is 00:13:26 So I called that detective. And because that Sudi questionnaire was not attached to his case. And I called him and I said, did you ask the parents the mother if she had been vaccinated? And he was very dismissive, said he never asked, why. And I said, well, there's doctors, pathologist. You know, this information is important to track. And again, dismissive, he hung up. He actually reported me to my supervisor.
Starting point is 00:13:52 for being an alleged anti-vaxxer. And that was it. So then fast forward to the end of January. Because of the pending mandates, all officers at Ottawa Police Service and civilian members who did not take two doses of the vaccine and or did not declare their vaccination status were but to be sent home on leave without pay February 1st, 2022.
Starting point is 00:14:18 And so in the end, on January 30th, I contacted the one father to ask him the question about his wife, whether or not she took the vaccine. So I got the answer because it just, it was resting on my mind. In my entire close to 20-year career back then, it was 19 years, I had never had a sleepless night until these last few weeks, just thinking about these poor families who lost their babies. And, yeah, four days later, I got suspended.
Starting point is 00:14:50 I got a call from Professional Standards Unit that I was suspended for action. accessing records for printing coroner reports, which I immediately told them I had not done. And I as well advised the sergeant that called me that the only reason I went into those reports was because I was preparing information for town hall meeting with the chief of police. So that kind of led me to that journey. So I was suspended. Now, during the time that I was suspended, I used that. that time to really dig in and research open source material, which is accessible to anybody,
Starting point is 00:15:30 any civilian. I was not calling people. I was just reading. Like open source, I pulled the Pfizer documents off their website. I pulled documents off Public Health Agency of Canada websites. So by May 12, 2022, I had a compelled interview with our Professional Standards Unit. So between February in May, I had composed over 10 binders of information or what police we could call evidence, where it showed that the government knew that the vaccines, the MRI vaccines, none of them, had ever been tried or tested on pregnant or breastfeeding women, none of them. And I really zeroed in on the Pfizer, but I included them all in my reports. But Johnson, Johnson, there's a few vaccines.
Starting point is 00:16:16 Johnson Johnson and the other. Madurna had been pulled for temporarily. Or AstraZeneca. AshtraZeneca, that was the one that was causing the clots. So I pulled all that documentation, and I brought it with me to the interview with the Professional Standards Unit. And not only did I show that, that it had never been tested, I also pulled the public health officials that were telling Canadians and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. that the vaccines have been proven safe and effective. And that actually, I presented this to professional standards units saying,
Starting point is 00:16:59 I wasn't investigating, but it should be investigated. This is concerning. When we have evidence on all proper documents saying it's never been tested on pregnant press feeding women, yet here's all these public health officials telling Canadians that it is proven safe and effective. that interview went by I actually the initial
Starting point is 00:17:26 allegation of accessing RMS for personal reasons that actually was never laid that charge the lead investigator in professional standards unit went to actually quite great length to explain that I was in charge
Starting point is 00:17:43 because as police officers we access our police data bank regularly every day numerous multiple times in the course of any police work we do, whether it be for an actual investigation, whether it be to educate ourselves, you know, just learn how to conduct thorough investigations.
Starting point is 00:18:03 There's many investigators out there that are more thorough than I as well. So I like to learn from them. What questions do they ask and how do they interact with people? So this was explained in why. That is the investigator actually went to great lengths to explain why I was not charged with insubordination for accessing RMS records. It's a part of our duties every day. And then he actually went on to,
Starting point is 00:18:29 I did end up getting charged with discredible conduct. Discredible conduct is a charge that's kind of a catch-haul. And that is a very public charge. It can be read out. I don't have it here with me, but essentially they alleged that I had started an unauthorized project and that I interfered an investigation by contacting the father
Starting point is 00:18:53 to ask about vaccination status. Okay, I'm sitting here and I'm sure people are like Sean's twitching because he's, I'm just curious. Go back to the very beginning. What was your unit? Sexual assault, child abuse. So what we investigate is any abuse on children
Starting point is 00:19:14 and sudden deaths. Sudden deaths of all children under five go automatically to the SACA unit, to investigate. So any death under five goes directly to you or directly to your unit. That's correct. And your job description would be like, well, if there's strange things going on with children, you should probably be looking into it.
Starting point is 00:19:43 Am I being a little bit, like, you know, like, I don't mean to be a smart ass or facetious. But like, isn't that the whole point of a detective? It's like you start seeing things come across, not only, like, is there a rule that if things start coming into your office and it doesn't land directly on your desk that as a detective you're not allowed to go look into it? There's no rule like that, no. And actually, on the contrary, we're reminded regularly that if we see something, we say something. Officers are told that regularly.
Starting point is 00:20:13 If you see something suspicious, say something. I saw something suspicious. I was told about something that was off. Doubling, tripling of sudden infant deaths is definitely concerning. So I said something. and I went right to the chief of police and you know that's another thing during the tribunal itself
Starting point is 00:20:30 they were alleging that I circumvented my chain of command but during the course of all leading up to that time I was told by my sergeant and staff sergeant to never talk about COVID or vaccines anything COVID related in the office in the Saka office so this was a situation where here I have a concern
Starting point is 00:20:50 but I know it's a hot topic I actually addressed it with the service sergeant major Dan and Luck who said yeah no no that is concerning and then I that and that this was all within two three days from the approximately the 10th of January when I when the colleague first came to me to January 13th 2022 and so I addressed it I saw something and I addressed it I and it's actually it's even recorded in the tribunal there is a documentation of my conversation or my concerns that I brought forth to the chief of police back then you might be like um i interviewed a cop from calgary who we left his name undisclosed back then no video
Starting point is 00:21:39 in the middle of covid because he was worried about being reprimanded and a whole bunch of things i've had lots of cops come and talk to me discreetly off air about lots of things it is like before i sat with you i thought it was strange but hearing you talk about it just makes it even more strange right like your detective. Man, if you were in, what role did you get moved to now? So I'm in robberies.
Starting point is 00:22:08 Robbery. So if robbery, a robbery detective was starting to talk about children and vaccinations, I could see being, listen, Helen, even though I think that it shouldn't be, I could see that boss would be like, listen, that isn't your lane, stay in your lane. Fair enough. But when it's,
Starting point is 00:22:24 like, I just, I'm a lossful words, how ridiculous that is. And yet I know the time we live through, and I've heard lots of ridiculous stories. This is just another level of ridiculousness. Absolutely. And we have situations where it doesn't actually even have...
Starting point is 00:22:43 All police officers swear an oath. And part of that oath is, well, our duty is to protect life, preserve life. That's why we run into gun fights. That's why when there's, you know, accidents we run in there to try to save, you know, see help the people that have been involved in these tragic situations so it's not actually even just saca detectives who need to raise the concerns we've had situations where regular road constables have brought forth concerns about child safety that that's a part of our job when we see anything that's why there's a mandate even to teachers you know they have a mandate that if they
Starting point is 00:23:24 they have a duty to report if they suspect any injury to a child or abuse to a child. So couple that with the unit I was actually in, to me it's still surreal. And it's been addressed. I know the mainstream media, but in the tribunal decision itself, it claims that I have no remorse.
Starting point is 00:23:44 Remorse for what, though? You have no remorse for what? It doesn't make any sense to me. It doesn't because your entire, you know, like, as a younger man, I was just telling So along the road trip, we went down to Buffalo, and I got to see one of my very good friends from college.
Starting point is 00:24:04 He's a New York State policeman. And so, you know, and he's a detective. And so we're talking about a few different things. And I was saying to my kids, you know, one of the things as a younger man, I really consider was becoming a cop. And one of the places I wanted to end up was a detective because, you know, you get to search things out. And what we were talking about was, while journalism is a different arm of that, right, because you actually get to search out things at times, I think you have a little more leeway, a little more freedom of, well, maybe for a little bit longer here in Canada.
Starting point is 00:24:39 But to search out stories, certainly in COVID, you know, being removed from social media platforms and things like that, it was a different type of thing. And it was a, but similar. Because you're sitting there going, my job is to talk to people where this, story is a little spicy or people's motions get the best of them and yet you're trying to dig up some of what they're talking about and dig out some of the truth your job the entire thing of it is to try and find the truth and you have resources that the common person doesn't have and then to bring those concerns forward it just seems i mean it's it seems almost in line with
Starting point is 00:25:20 charging Tamara leach and chris barbara with mischief and and all that and going as far as they went with that, right? Like, we're not allowed to make this come out that the vaccine can be anything more than what it was, safe and effective. Even though here in 2026, every day it seems something new comes out that just makes it even worse.
Starting point is 00:25:41 Oh, that's correct. Now, the information that's coming out, especially stateside and Europe and Japan, worldwide, right? I thought lots about this. In the COVID world, we've gotten so set in our ways. one way or another, right?
Starting point is 00:25:58 And I'm pretty sure I'm right. But the problem is to convince the other portion of the population that what went on, I'm not talking lockdowns, I'm not talking all the, like those are self-explanatory. Businesses closing up shop, et cetera, et cetera. And I'm quite certain I'm not wrong on the vaccine because I know enough people that have lost loved ones in a very short time frame from having it. but for a lot of the population when they shut down any chance at transparency, any investigation into like, could this have been,
Starting point is 00:26:32 the information is obscured. Even though we can stare at different countries and see them giving revelation after revelation, when it isn't your own government doing it, and your CBC, your mainstream medias of the world, won't report on it. It's left to what they would consider the fringes. And that's really sad because you look at all the facts that are coming out. I mean, just your story.
Starting point is 00:26:59 Like, that should just raise everybody's eyebrows. I'm sure everybody on this podcast or listening in the podcast is gone. And I've been following Helen for a long time. And it's just a ridiculous, sad story. And I think what's important to note that even in the case, for example, with Sean Hartman, his father had to hire a lawyer to actually get the tissue sent to the state so the proper staining could be done. So there is staining that could be done on damaged tissue that will stain for it.
Starting point is 00:27:29 That will confirm whether or not the spike protein has damaged that tissue or not. And whether there's natural immunity that's built up or not. And that, again, it's very scientific. I'd rather have a doctor speak to it. I have had it explained to me numerous times. So I do get it. I just don't want to speak to something. But the most important factor is his son's tissue was not tested for,
Starting point is 00:27:53 the spike protein here in Canada. He had to go stateside to get that done. Why? We pay for our medical health here. So the tests that are, it's a test that will prove or disprove whether or not the spike protein damage that tissue. So when that's not being done here,
Starting point is 00:28:15 it's concerning because, again, it will either confirm or rule out this medication. When you fast forward to 2026, bring the audience up to speak, because I know a lot of people have been following everything. But, you know, I'm going to assume there were people that don't know who Helen has, had never heard your story. And maybe I've missed, I'm sure there's, you know, there's people that want more on the story.
Starting point is 00:28:44 But where do you sit now in 2026? So just last week I received my disposition or penalty, which the Ottawa Police Service was asking for a 24-month motion from first class to second class. We actually asked that there be no penalty, that it's taken over four and a half years now to get here. The Ottawa Police Association, who I am a member of and paying member of as well, they denied funding my legal costs. So that's been out of pocket, all of that, which, again, I'm not here to cry about. that but it's just the reality of where we're at it's a very political hot topic so I was
Starting point is 00:29:27 the hypocrisy knows no bounds so and then last week I was found guilt so they they actually did demote me for the full term that OPS legal was asking for the 24 months which that's proximate it's just the base pay is 15 grand a month I mean a year sorry a year so in over two years that's approximately 30 grand plus when a second class constable can't promote to sergeant so I've lost all promotional opportunities for another four years because this stays on my record for two more years. So the punishment's very harsh. It is being appealed. We actually filed an appeal last year for the decision itself, but we'll be refiling it to include the disposition. And I can't speak, well, and Norm do I wish you to, you feel free to answer however you want,
Starting point is 00:30:18 but when you get a penalty like that for doing what is in your realm of things to do and investigate politically hot or not, it signals to every other officer if you want to get promoted, don't touch things that you shouldn't touch. And therefore ask permission for everything you're looking into that could be deemed, right? Like, I mean, instead of applauding on good police work going into places, oh, that could be, I don't know if we want to be, I don't know if we want to. go take a look there but go find out some more information the signal is don't do that and you can see where that leads police officers in the next 10 20 years it's very dangerous because we're actually we're guided by the laws of Canada and we're not supposed to be under peels principles policing we're not supposed to cater to public opinion and political views right that that's the safeguard there to keep
Starting point is 00:31:15 keep our country, our democracy working the way it's supposed to work and keep our community safe. So it is, it's a very dangerous decision moving forward for policing and it has to be appealed. One of the things I've noticed, I feel like, online is faith must play a big part in your journey. Am I correct in thinking that? That's huge, yes. No, no. I'm a God, fear, and Christian. I thank God for his son, Jesus Christ.
Starting point is 00:31:44 Like all, and, you know, when I get down, when something happens, there's a lot of anger that's projected towards me as well just recently. There's some people that say some pretty nasty things. And your initial reaction, you want to... Online or in person? Online. Yeah. In person as well sometimes. But online and the initial reaction is, you know, you want to retaliate.
Starting point is 00:32:08 That's human nature. But I do draw myself back and say, okay, a good colleague. of mine once said, what would Jesus do? And so it draws me back, okay, stay peaceful, stay kind, stay compassionate. And I flip it around thinking, okay, what's going on with that poor person? What's going on in their life? That makes them so angry. I'm not angry about what's going on with me per se.
Starting point is 00:32:32 It's a great learning experience. It's very hurtful for my family. Like, there's been a lot of stress. But I like to try to fix things. So if I can put all that energy into making, things right. That's what I pray to God for him to guide me in doing each and every day, to make things right. Yeah. I mean, I wish it was a little faster. I'm sure he laughs at all of us when we think that. But you think in 2026, when you hear Helen's story or other people's stories that have gone
Starting point is 00:33:12 through similar things or are going through similar things, it's just like, when does it, when does it turn the corner? You know, like all the stuff. with Fauci coming out, like, it just, once again, you bring up the states. I'm like, you just stare at it. You're like, are we going to take any of that information? No, we're not. We're not going to take any of that information? Okay.
Starting point is 00:33:32 Okay, we're just going to be mad at the states for the rest of our lives. Okay. But we're starting. I mean, there's the Dean. There's the Allison Inquiry. Yes, well, I just had Dean on roughly a week ago. Okay. So that, I see that as a great step forward because I would say without victims,
Starting point is 00:33:48 we don't have police investigations. We know that as police officers. If we don't have a victim, there's no case, really. So the Allison inquiry is huge because the injured men and women have a voice. They'll be heard. And I hope Canadians, police officers, politicians will take note and listen in to those stories and tragic stories that they have. I know.
Starting point is 00:34:11 And I'm going to be the cynical one. And I'm going to say, I won't hold my breath, right? I think it's wonderful that it's happening and then it's a government. member that's doing it is just this this narrative and it's people now
Starting point is 00:34:31 upholding the narrative right like I don't know how you defend what they've done to you not you people in general because like there's you know like all these different things and then like I don't know
Starting point is 00:34:48 when I think about it you're a detective investigating infant deaths linking some things and being like well maybe this is completely wrong, but we just need to go in and see the evidence, right? Let's get to the bottom of it, and then we can just wipe this off. We do that regularly in every unit. Instead, it's the book, everything they can throw at you, they've thrown at you,
Starting point is 00:35:09 which to a guy sitting here, and all the interviews I've done to this point, leads me right to where I think so many people are sitting. And the Allison inquiry needs to be on steroids, and the prime minister needs to be pushing for transparency, for Canadians for the world. The world needs to heal from a time of absolute darkness and nefarious actors and just we went berserk and it plays out in protecting the narrative and Helen you're one who got absolutely ran over for doing her job. I agree. Like it's and it's still there's a large trickle effect of the ostracization still goes on right there's this divide that
Starting point is 00:35:56 unfortunately exists. And then there's people in the middle that are kind of meandering, not knowing, and we shouldn't really take sides in this. We should all just come to an understanding this is what happened. And this is what we do as officers. We're supposed to step back, take a look at the whole picture. What are we looking at here? And that's something that it was sad to see that there's a number of officers that didn't do that. They had tunnel vision just moved forward. But thankfully, actually, the majority of officers did take a stand back and looked at the whole pictures, they just, not everybody spoke up. In your career as a detective, how many years were you a detective then?
Starting point is 00:36:33 Back then 19. So, detective, I was, let's see, 2006. Sorry, 2000. I got to do the math here. 18 years. No, that's 24. No, it would have been about, 16 years. Oh, my gosh, 19.
Starting point is 00:36:49 Sorry, it's early in the morning still. Yes, yes, it is. Usually math, math used to be my forte. So here, 19. 15 years approximately. Sorry, 15 years. So in 15 years of being a detective, did you ever get told, like,
Starting point is 00:37:04 not that you have to tell the stories, but in 15 years, did you ever start investigating something, give it to your higher ups and be like, I'd like to pursue this and then go, no, we're not allowed to talk about that? Actually, I never even had to go more higher ups. I just started investigations.
Starting point is 00:37:19 If I saw something, I'd start investigating and carry it through. The sergeants, if we talk about it over tea, but it was never, or to coffee, it was never seeking permission to investigate. That's a completely new phenomena. I've never heard of that, asking permission to actually investigate a potential crime.
Starting point is 00:37:39 Didn't exist. So in the lead up to COVID, I'll stick with children. Something happens to a child. You just went to investigate. Boss would be like, Helen, what are you doing today? Oh, we had this and this one. All right, sounds good.
Starting point is 00:37:57 I'll look forward to seeing a report, essentially. Exactly. It was never, like, yeah, we talk about what we're doing, but it was never, oh, hold on. I've never been turned down any kind of, what do we call it there, like a hunch. As police officers, we get hunches, right? We're driving along the road. We see a suspicious car at a home that normally has, you know, a white pickup truck, while all of a sudden there's this little old Toyota Corolla Park trunk is up.
Starting point is 00:38:24 people are moving stuff in and out. That's all, those are all clues. Maybe something's up, so you pull back, you grab the plate number, see if they belong there. It could be a break and enter and process, right? So, but we don't have to ask permission for that. We never did. Actually, for that stage, under the new act, we still wouldn't have to.
Starting point is 00:38:42 It's when you want to continue the investigation further on. So now, I've never, even to this date, even in the robbery unit, there's so now I'm more into the financial aspect of crime even though a robbery includes a certain personal violence with it as well so it is a very serious offense but we have freedom of we have the autonomy as detectives if we see something going on then we pursue a lead we may mention it but it's not in the form of asking permission so and even with querying RMS cases. I know it came up in the tribunal. One of the witnesses, prosecution witnesses, mentioned that every time we open up an RMS report, in the course of our investigations,
Starting point is 00:39:35 we have to document it in our notebook. That was nonsensical. Like, nowadays, when we have all the computer tech, there's a printout. So if professional standards wants to see what cases we queried when, what time. They press a few buttons. They get a print out of everything we researched in the course of our duties, or even if somebody's trying to do it on the low improperly, which was never the case with me. So they tried to just advise that, oh, every case we open, we have to put a notation. That's what they made it sound like, which is, it was completely nonsensical. So we have autonomy and we have the tool, the RMS is our tool to use in the course of our investment. investigations. And we don't have to ask permission. The only time we would have to ask permission, we have
Starting point is 00:40:26 privatized reports, which we can't access without permission. Like, have your colleagues said anything or nobody's willing to do it? Because, I mean, essentially, if you speak out on behalf of how your job now becomes a target. Or is it, do do cops see anything wrong with what's going on? Absolutely. Actually, I have a lot of support from within. Are they speaking out publicly? No. Nor do they have to. At this point, the tribunal process needs to take place from start. Well, this part is done. Now it's the appeal. Will some eventually, potentially, if there's an opportunity for them to testify down the road and they're willing to, that's something else. We're not there yet. But I do have every day at work,
Starting point is 00:41:16 it doesn't matter what station I'm at, officers and civilian members approach me and thank me for what I'm doing. So they are noticing and it goes right up the ranks from I'm also like well now I'm a second class constable but all the way up to the executive office where I have officers you know
Starting point is 00:41:35 just telling me that I'm to keep going and I will. I think it's very important this case is extremely important for policing moving forward for the autonomy and the discretion that we are supposed to have. Can Canadians in any way shape or form help?
Starting point is 00:41:52 So I know Bathsheba has spoken to this at length that under there's a police complaint process under LECA, LECA, is the acronym for Ontario Police. But I think there's limitations. I know if your crowds from out west, I believe the website says it all, but there's complaints that people can lodge. If they feel that there's something, if police are in some capacity acting improperly, a complaint can be filed through LECA. Okay, so LECA for anyone that can file that, is there, you know, you mentioned all expenses are out of pocket. Is there any way to, is there a go fund me, anything like that that people can donate to if they want to do? So there's actually two, and thank you, there's a give-seng-go, that's a Christian-based fundraiser, right? So there is a give-send-go, gives-seng-go-gruce, and people have been actually very, very gracious there.
Starting point is 00:42:47 So it has raised over $130,000 that has gone directly towards my legal fees. Legal fees have accumulated to over 400,000 over the past four and a half years. I was going to say 100, that sounds great, which it is. But I'm like, everyone I talk to that's fighting year-long legal, you know, the legal fees are insane. And that's really, I think big part of that was I was forced to, it'll all be addressed in appeal, but the transcripts, for example, that's. something that I ended up. Those are expensive.
Starting point is 00:43:20 To pay a week of transcripts, I think a week is approximately 13 grand to have everything documented properly. So it does arise quickly. And so there's that platform, the Grusjusticeproject.org. It's a wonderful group of some former officers. Ted Kuntz is in that group, I believe. So they started this organization, and it's with their help that the documentary silencing Detective Grus was put together. by Canadian film producer Todd Harris. So under the Grucejusticeproject.org,
Starting point is 00:43:53 there's also a campaign there for fundraising. So those are the two platforms. That's it. There's nothing else, really. The GiveS & Go does direct email if people aren't comfortable putting to GiveSand Go. But I actually like that website because my intent is, I don't know where this is going to take me.
Starting point is 00:44:12 I pray that I'm able to one day pay all those funds back. With GiveSand Go, it's an easy. I just give them back the money. and they can redistribute it to the people that were able to graciously help out when it was needed most for legal fees. Someday you hope? I hope to pay everybody back, absolutely. Wow. So it's...
Starting point is 00:44:35 You realize most Canadians, I think I can speak safely for a lot of us, are like, you're already doing that by going through everything you're going, through by doing your job and like not going well it's a little bit politically hot and I'm just not going to do this like I don't know if I can speak for all Canadians but certainly I think I can speak for a lot I don't think you need to repay anything you're doing it every day right now and I think a lot of people are praying that you come through this hole and that you know justice is seen or served or take your pick of the words and that you know you're exonerated for being. exemplary in a time that was absolutely I could say a bunch of words just a crazy time where where up was down and down was up and you know it floors me that you'd want to I get where your heart's at I do but I think I can safely speak for a lot of people where that that is unnecessary like you're doing things that most Canadians wish more Canadians would do more police officers would do more academics more government officials
Starting point is 00:45:47 You know, people that hold key positions in keeping the public trust high have advocated. They've obfuscated their position, their power, their ability to influence things. Media, you know, there's just so many places that we need more Helens. My husband might disagree with that, but. Yeah, but he's, in fairness to him and any of your family, they're in the middle of the storm. sitting on the other side watching the storm. I get to bring the storm parts of it back and I hope people will donate. I hope people will help fund your legal fees and show your husband and others that when you
Starting point is 00:46:30 stand for something, the world appreciates it and are going to support you. I mean, that's only people probably don't realize this. That's a huge chunk of why I get to run around and do this is because people, when I was losing everything, companies and some key individuals, stepped in and made sure that I didn't lose everything. Because it would have been hard on my wife and kids if all of a sudden, you know, everything that I was standing for,
Starting point is 00:46:55 the world just took it out and threw me on the street, that'd be pretty difficult, right? So like, no, I... Anyway, we can help. I hope we'll help you, Helen. And getting paid back isn't in the mindset for me. It's like, no, we should... If anything, we should be reaching out more
Starting point is 00:47:16 and the money thing's difficult because at a time now where like affordability of everything, like driving the country, holy mac, like the price of gas is insane. And we know what that does the cost of living and the cost of food and everything. So like food is difficult. So I go, or food, money is difficult. So I go, if you can donate money, donate money. But if you can file a complaint, cost you nothing, but a little bit of time. And if it helps, we should be doing that too.
Starting point is 00:47:46 And that's another thing that, like aside from the gives and go, because, and I recognize, as you say, times are tough and there are, God has blessed me. I'm still working. I'm still able to make a living. I recognize there's people out there that have lost jobs and not been able to find a new job. And that's where, for me, hypocrisy is the greatest, it gets under my skin the most. And this is really what this case is about for me too, the hypocrisy of rules for me, but not for thee. So for me to be, asking people who have nothing to donate, it just goes, I can't do that. Well, the big guy upstairs can do just about any, well, no, he can do anything, right? Yeah, absolutely. Prayers are number one. Number one. And that, once again, cost you nothing. Exactly.
Starting point is 00:48:34 But to all my fellow Christians out there, you probably know somebody with some means, or you know some Ontarians, right? There's so many different ways to slice this. It's not even funny. It's like prayer. Yeah, easy, boom, done. and but then you go okay so you can't fill out the form because you're from Alberta let's say the chance are you got some relatives in Ontario one phone call get
Starting point is 00:48:56 them to fill out a form you know like we have to do a better job and I'm saying this to myself more than anyone of supporting and making sure that whether it's your family whether it's your husband whether it's other people's loved ones that they they see the support and feel the support because this audience has done it for me and companies have rallied around what I do to make sure that it continues on right because it's not exactly I don't know world being stuff some of the times I'm talking about there's been a lot of tough days in 2026 I feel like we're almost out of it and I sit across from you know and go man we're not I feel bad that you'd have to feel like you need to pay it back I think it's a wonderful place to see where your heart's at
Starting point is 00:49:44 I just think Canadians don't, like, they want you to stay in the fight. And I will stay in this fight. I'm determined that way. I will stay in this fight. I know Bathsheba's a rocket in that. She's a firecracker. And I'm blessed that we were brought together for this because it's very significant. It's very important for Canadians.
Starting point is 00:50:04 And just going back to even my family, I don't like to bring them into this because they didn't ask for their mom to sign up for this. However, I do love them dearly. They love me dearly. I know I do have the support. It has been difficult. Like it's one, it's taken a different course for many of us, right? The whole COVID era, as officers, we have, as dangerous as our jobs are.
Starting point is 00:50:28 We have a decent pay. Our pensions are great. So yeah, did I have a plan? Absolutely. 10 years ago, if you asked me what my plan was, I had it laid out exactly where I was going to retire. Yes. Now, I don't know. But that's okay.
Starting point is 00:50:46 Because, again, God tells us not to worry about tomorrow. Yeah. Well, I mean, once again, if Michelle Benning is listening, I was all stressed out about this trip. I had a lot of different things going on before we left. And I walked into her office because she's right beside the studio. And she's like, well, you know the answer, Sean? And I like, somebody knows the answer.
Starting point is 00:51:10 Give it up to God. I started chuckling. I'm like, yeah. that's a good answer. It's a good answer. And I certainly forget that from time to time, but I hopefully remember it more times than not that sometimes you just got to pray about things. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:23 And God will work him out because that's certainly what he does. Yeah, absolutely. Is there any final thoughts for the audience? You want to make sure they know. I don't know. I'm like, I just want to give you as much time as possible, Helen, to make sure that people know, you know, what's going on in your story.
Starting point is 00:51:41 and if they can help, great. But I really appreciate you coming down and meeting me in the middle of, you know, wherever we are. Sensotique. There you go. I think my final message is really, well, we've touched on it repeatedly now. Like, stay focused on the goodness that God gave us.
Starting point is 00:52:03 Like, there is evil on this earth. As officers, we see it regularly. Unfortunately, we see horrible things happen, but we also see the good. And actually another call to that is also just, and I maintain this because many people have asked me in the past, how can you stay working with the Ottawa Police Service? The service I work for, there are countless brave men and women that I work with
Starting point is 00:52:29 who are ethical, moral, and do the right thing, do the right job. They're there to protect us all. And as much as I'm doing this for the communities, I'm also doing this for my colleagues so that we can keep our communities safe. Well, and another thought from my end is if Helen left and we lost Helen in that service and be one very strong moral compass
Starting point is 00:52:55 that it would no longer have. And what I see in so many different industries, government, et cetera, is some of the best get tossed out through all the, what's happening to you in different ways, right? They go, oh, that's not where I want to go. We need the best of us to go back into policing. And there is a lot of good ones. I'm not saying there isn't good ones. But all the things, politics is just one of the things that comes up on the show an awful lot. We need the
Starting point is 00:53:22 best of us to go back in that and write a ship, bring it back to some strong morals. Because where it's getting to is a very, very strange or stranger time where detectives aren't allowed to do what they're paid to do. Yep, no exactly. Well, thank you again for doing this. I appreciate you meeting me, and I'll let you get on with your day. Actually, you know what? That's a lie.
Starting point is 00:53:49 We're going to do a substack here. So if you want 10 bonus questions with Helen, make sure that you come over to substack. So give us a moment.

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