Military police watchdog reviewing sex assault investigation of officer who died by suicide

WARNING: This story contains distressing details about suicide. It also includes details of allegations of sexual assault which may be triggering.

Canada's Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) will conduct an investigation into the handling of a sexual assault complaint against an air force flight instructor who later took his own life.

The watchdog agency has received three complaints about the way military police conducted their investigation of the allegations against Maj. Cristian Hiestand in November 2021.

Two of the complaints came from the family of the air force officer and Afghan war veteran. The third came from a former military officer who was serving at the time at the military policedetachment that handledHiestand's case.

Hiestand was charged with two counts of sexual assault days after he'd ended a tumultuous, short-term relationship with a civilian woman.

The charges were laid by military police in provincial court in Saskatchewan less than a week after he broke off the relationship and within five days of authorities receiving a complaint from the civilian woman in question.

CBC News profiled the Hiestand case a year ago.

The MPCCat first denied a request for an investigation from Hiestand's sister,Andrea Shorter. A spokespersonfor the commission said the commission's interim chair, Bonita Thornton, decided last year toreverse that denialbut her decision was not released publicly because of an ongoing internal investigation at the Department of National Defence.

The newly-appointed chair, Tammy Tremblay, released the decision publicly on Thursday.

"The totality of the allegations of misconduct listed above is, in my view, serious enough to weigh in favour of conducting a [public interest investigation], particularly given that these issues have arisen in the context of a sexual assault investigation," Thorntonwrote in a decision released Thursday morning.

"MP treatment of sexual assault allegations has been an issue of particular public attention and concern in recent years."

Thorntonsaid the complaints from the parents and sister of the accused suggest a connection between the handling of the sexual assault investigation and Hiestand's suicide in January 2022.

Family alleges a 'rush to judgment'

"MP responsiveness and sensitivity to mental illness has been a matter of special interest to the MPCC in previous [public interest investigation]," the interim commissioner wrote.

The family alleges that the military police officer handling the case refused to allow Hiestand to tell his side of the story and wouldn't look at a text exchange between himself and the complainant material he believed would provide more context and back up his claim of innocence.

Legal experts have said that there is no lawor obligation on the part of law enforcement military or otherwise to interview suspects. The tendency in sexual assault cases has been to lay the charge as part of the legal system's "zero tolerance" policy toward such crimes.

The family's complaint to the watchdog argues that military police were in a "rush to judgment" because of the current political and social climate.

Retired lieutenant-colonel Rory Fowler, a former military lawyer now in private practice, represents the Hiestand family. Hesaid they're pleased with the decisionbut are frustrated with the slow pace.

"It would appear that the public interest investigation is only now starting and even then they're not going to conduct any interviews while the military police professional standards investigation dawdles along at a pace that it's been progressing," he said.

The military police watchdog said Thursday it will "hold off for time being" on interviewing witnesses for its public interest investigation because the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal is still conducting a professional standards review of the officer who charged Hiestand. That review has continued without a resolution since May 2022."

"It's entirely typical of the Canadian Forces to take this long. It's not reasonable but it is typical," said Fowler.

The third complaint, fromformer military police officer Muhsin Warsame, calls into question the conduct of two senior non-commissioned officers (NCOs)a warrant officer and a sergeant who were in charge of the detachment.

Warsame, who said he was present at the time of the Hiestand investigation but is now serving with another police service, claimedamong other things that the NCOs assigned inexperienced military police officers to interview the complainant.

He also said an unidentified man was allowed to sit in on the questioning of the woman and that the sergeant running the detachment was intoxicated when he showed up on his day off when the investigation into Hiestand was initiated.

"It certainly confirms my general view of the quality of the military police and the competence of the military police in general," said Fowler.

The fact that the military watchdog only seemed to take the case seriously after it received the third complaint is particularly troubling, he said.

"It was only once that third complaint was madethat that people decided that yeah, maybe we should be looking at how the military police conducted this investigation."