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Former Regina police chief Farooq Sheikh sat with a hand resting against his face as texts he sent to a police board member were viewed during a hearing appealing his firing from the police force.
Sheikh was fired in October of 2025 after an investigation ruled that he sent inappropriate messages to the board member regarding his contract.
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The hearing appealing Sheikh firing is being led by a three-person panel appointed by the Saskatchewan Police Commission.
Aaron Fox, the chair representing the commission, imposed a publication ban on any information that would identify the complainant. The ban also covered some personal details of the text messages between Sheikh and the complainant.
On Tuesday, a series of texts between Sheikh and the former police board member showed the two fawning over each others’ looks and exchanging images of themselves while partially undressed.
Shawn George, a former investigator with the Public Complaints Commission who looked into the complaint against Sheikh, described some of the texts as the two “flirting.”
Mitchell Holash, a lawyer representing Regina Police Board of Police Commissioners, led George through testimony at the Double Tree Hotel in Regina.
George said he formally met with Sheikh during the investigative process, noting that it was rare for the commission to receive complaints about a police chief.
He said the text messages contained “friendly banter (and) jokes” between the complainant and chief, and could be considered “flirtatious.”
Some of the messages showed the two calling each other by pet names.
Another conversation showed that Sheikh asked the complainant questions about amendments to his contract during a police board meeting in December of 2024.
George said he considered some of the text messages “not appropriate, especially in the role as chief.”
The complainant’s resignation from the police board
George said a person the complainant considers as close as family was arrested in a drug trafficking investigation in February of 2025. He said Sheikh was alerted about the situation by his deputy chief.
During the hearing, a recording was played of a phone conversation between the complainant and Shiekh on Feb. 26, 2025.
In the recording, Sheikh asked the complainant if anyone could hear their conversation.
Sheikh also asked the complainant to “be mindful” of certain texts the two had exchanged, and asked her to delete them, saying they could be misinterpreted.
The complainant resigned from the police board a day after the phone call.
George said Sheikh’s comments to the complainant were inappropriate.
The former PCC investigator will be questioned by the defence on Wednesday morning.
The appeal hearing is set to run until Sept. 24.
