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A former Kamloops RCMP officer who was fired for having an affair and lying about it is appealing to federal court to get his job back.

Const. Ashley Goodyer was on the job when he visited a woman he had an extramarital relationship with in 2016. Her house was in the Juniper neighbourhood, but he was supposed to be patrolling North Kamloops, according to an RCMP Conduct decision.

He was a rookie officer that year and had finished his probation just months before the conduct investigation.

Goodyer denied having any intimate or sexual conduct with her while he was on duty and the conduct board found there was no evidence to suggest he did, but it decided there were reasonable grounds to fire him from the RCMP and dock his pay because he lied to superiors about where he was going.

He was fired in 2018.

Nearly four years later, he tried and failed to appeal that decision with the RCMP conduct board, but then quickly turned to the Federal Court of Canada for a review of his appeal in June 2022, according to recently obtained court documents.

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The conduct board found he disobeyed a direct order from a superior in November 2016, but it was 13 months later when he was given notice of a conduct hearing, according to court documents. He argues the RCMP breached its own one-year expiry on conduct investigations.

He also argues in the court application he was denied "procedural fairness" because he did not have an in-person hearing.

Although he filed the application last June, the court has not decided on whether it will review his appeal.

Lawyers for Goodyer and the Attorney General of Canada have filed affidavits to the court and continue to ask for extensions. It's not clear when his appeal might be heard.

During his 2016 affair, Goodyer met the woman both at her home and her work. That July, he was given an order from a superior officer not to see his "girlfriend" while on duty.

He was told it "would not be permitted on duty while he was still engaged and living with his spouse," according to a conduct board decision.

In November, he visited the woman at her home in Juniper after lying to superiors, claiming he was stopping by his spouse's friend's home for a birthday party.

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Instead, he went to the woman's house to "bury the hatchet" while on his lunch break, according to a conduct decision. Investigators found he was there for around 90 minutes.

He didn't initially tell superiors he went to her house and later admitted there was no birthday party at all.

Goodyer was eventually transferred to another watch unit under a new superior officer, which was purported to give him a "fresh start." However, one officer's letter to the conduct board claimed his transfer had less to do with Goodyer and was actually because two entirely different officers were being split up because they had an extramarital affair together.

In his appeal, Const. Goodyer argued the conduct board had made various mistakes in deciding to have him fired.

Goodyer argued in his initial appeal the board breached procedural fairness rules, and that an assessment of mitigating and aggravating factors didn't meet the required legal standard.

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He also argued it failed to assess the credibility of support letters he submitted.

However, four years after he was originally ordered to resign, the conduct board again made much the same decision.

"The Board determined that (the) allegations... collectively made it untenable for (Goodyer's) employment with the RCMP to continue," the conduct board ruled.

Goodyer wants the Federal Court to dismiss his firing, the allegation that he defied a direct order and to rescind his forfeiture of 20 days pay initially ordered by the conduct board.

Goodyer's lawyer Tracy Benkendorf-Pasenko did not respond to a phone call from iNFOnews.ca.

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