The territorial government is asking the Yukon Supreme Court to quash a human rights investigation into a jail guard, suggesting that after three years, enough is enough.

In documents filed last month, government lawyer Zeb Brown argues the Yukon Human Rights Commission has done little to investigate the complaint by a female inmate who claims she was sexually harassed by veteran corrections officer Spencer Elofson.

In a sworn document by Elofson, the guard suggests he is the target of nothing more than an inmate with a chip on her shoulder caused by being forced to follow stricter rules while she was incarcerated at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

The complaint was filed in December 2002, according to the Supreme Court documents.

Thirty-one months later last July the complainant withdrew the accusation. But a couple of months later, on Sept. 30, when contacted by commission staff to confirm her withdrawal in writing, she indicated she wanted to proceed with the complaint.

She indicated to staff last September that when she decided to withdraw the complaint the previous July, she had been feeling confused, having just had a baby, and was facing the frustration of having the matter drag on for over two years.

The woman says that while she was in jail in the fall of 2002, Elofson put his hand on her neck and then rubbed her back. She is also accusing him of touching her hand.

The complainant did not invite Elofson to touch her, say documents filed by the commission.

Elofson, on the other hand, says he's been a correctional officer since 1985, and has always taken his job seriously and has approached it with professionalism.

At no time, he argues, did he act inappropriately toward the complainant, or any other inmate.

Yet for three years, he's had to face taunting and ridicule from inmates aware of the accusations, Elofson notes in his sworn affidavit.

'I would never engage in any form of sexual conduct with an inmate,' Elofson swears. 'I did not sexually harass (the inmate) or touch her in a sexual manner.'

Elofson goes on to express his disbelief the commission did not deal with the complaint over the last three years.

'Her allegations are a direct accusation against me of sexual misconduct,' he says. 'I think it is unconscionable that the Human Rights Commission has accepted this complaint into this process and allowed it to continue, throwing a shadow over my personal and professional reputation year after year without dealing with it.'

Elofson also emphasizes in his affidavit that the complainant was not even incarcerated on the day she accused him of rubbing her back, and that he was not even working on the day she said he touched her hand.

Heather MacFadgen, the commission's director of human rights, declined comment this morning.

The Department of Justice was asked today if the direction for its intervention into the case was a decision by Justice Minister John Edzerza, or him and his cabinet colleagues, though no response was received.

There was also no confirmation of who is footing the bill for the government's petition to the Supreme Court the government, or whether the cost is shared jointly with Elofson.

Elofson notes in his affidavit his belief the complainant was being nothing more than vindictive. She actually told him once that she would get him, he says.

In 2002, Elofson swears in his affidavit, there was a 'serious problem' of sexual contact between male and female prisoners.

The complainant, he notes, was among the cases recorded when she was caught in a sexual encounter with her inmate boyfriend.

It was a time when women were given almost free reign inside the institution because there were so few of them.

But once the increasing problem of sexual encounters was documented, staff at the correctional centre along with Elofson in his senior position directed restrictions on female inmates to come in line with those imposed on male inmates, Elofson swears in his affidavit.

The complainant, he says, knew he took part in the restructuring of procedures for female inmates, and disliked him for it.

She not only filed a complaint against Elofson, but against the correctional centre for treating women unfairly based on their gender, compared to the male inmates.

The case against the Whitehorse Correctional Centre was dismissed last April, following a hearing.

The commissioners found that based on the evidence, there were no reasonable grounds to proceed to a settlement or further legal proceedings, according to court documents.

In his petition to the Supreme Court seeking an order to have the matter thrown out, Brown writes:

'Considering the seriousness of the allegations, and their personal impact upon him, SCO Elofson feels it is unconscionable that the director failed to diligently investigate and resolve this complaint.

'He is concerned that starting the investigation, stopping it, and starting it again, all according to the will of (the complainant) is unfair to him and creates an appearance that the director is not dealing with the complaint in an evenhanded manner.'