OPP head says bail reform could have saved a young officer, as others doubt evidence
The Military Police Complaints Commission is investigating the way officers handled allegations of sexual assault against a soldier who took his own life, the commission announced Thursday.
Military police charged Maj. Cristian Hiestand, a flight instructor in a Royal Canadian Air Force flight training squadron, with two counts of sexual assault in November 2021.
The complainant alleged that Hiestand sexually assaulted her twice, after they had just ended a relationship.
Hiestand died by suicide two months later, and his parents and sister filed separate complaints with the military police, saying they "rushed to judgment" and didn't take a statement from the accused before laying charges.
A military police officer has also filed a complaint alleging the investigating officers didn't record the woman's interview even though they could have, and that an off-duty sergeant tried to help with the investigation while intoxicated.
The commission denied the initial request for a public interest investigation in 2022, the interim chairperson Bonita Thornton said in her written decision Thursday. She considered the regular conduct complaint process would be adequate in this case.
Since then, the case has received media attention and two more complaints have been made.
"Due to these new circumstances, I have decided to revisit the issue of public interest with respect to the original complaint and the other two related complaints," Thornton said in her written decision to launch an investigation.
The commission decided to launch a public interest investigation last November, but because the case is also the subject of an internal review, it delayed a public announcement of the probe until Thursday.
The alleged victim reported Hiestand to the local military police detachment and gave an initial statement two days after their relationship ended on Nov. 25, 2021.
The case was referred to the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, and Hiestand was arrested five days later. He was charged with two counts of sexual assault.
Hiestand's parents and sisters allege the investigation by the military police was inadequate, and that the service failed to take his statement before he was charged. The investigation service also failed to accept text messages between Hiestand and the alleged victim that could have proved the allegations false, the complainants claim.
The commission also received a complaint from Muhsin Warsame, an officer who served at the local military police detachment at the time and claims to have been present when the alleged victim reported the assaults.
He made several allegations about how the case was mishandled, including that a sergeant tried to assisted with the investigation while off-duty and intoxicated.
Warsame told the commission the warrant officer who interviewed the alleged victim didn't record it, even though the equipment was available to do so, and that the officer complained with frustration about the victim's choice to come to the military police instead of the local civilian police.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2023.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Prime minister faces mounting pressure to step aside from inside caucus
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will face mounting pressure from his caucus this week to step down from the leadership of the Liberal party.
Police are looking for a suspect who allegedly threw a coffee at a woman’s vehicle and then shot at her windshield following some sort of dispute that began at a Tim Hortons in Pickering on Friday morning.
The former principal of a Christian school in Ontario's Niagara Region has been arrested and charged with sexual assault.
What's open and closed this Thanksgiving in Canada
Thanksgiving Day is a federal statutory holiday in Canada, and falls on Monday, Oct. 14 this year. Here's what to know about what is open this Monday.
Toronto police have identified the woman who was allegedly killed by a suspected serial killer earlier this month.
As Hezbollah and Israel battle on the border, Lebanon's army watches from the sidelines
Since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed along the border while the Lebanese army has largely stood on the sidelines.
Marital rape is still not outlawed in India. Changing that would be ‘excessively harsh,’ government argues
Criminalizing marital rape would be 'excessively harsh,' the Indian government has said, in a blow to campaigners ahead of a long-awaited Supreme Court decision that will affect hundreds of millions of people in India for generations.
Parents at some private, for-profit daycares across the GTA are being warned that their fees could soon be doubling as operators consider pulling out of the national $10-a-day child-care program.
Bloc won't hold Liberals 'hostage' over seniors' benefits: cabinet minister
Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says the Liberals will not be 'held hostage' by the Bloc Quebecois' demand to expand Old Age Security to more seniors.
Local Spotlight
James Taylor never expected to be walking home with a bag full of groceries he didn't buy.
This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of a large blizzard that paralyzed Manitoba.
There was an eye-catching mix of rainbows and lightning over Vancouver following a brief downpour this week.
Jeff Warner from Aidie Creek Gardens in the northern Ontario community of Englehart has a passion for growing big pumpkins and his effort is paying off in more ways than one.
Saskatchewan’s Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.
A B.C. couple is getting desperate – and creative – in their search for their missing dog.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.