Probe clears military police in case of pilot charged with sexual assault who took his own life
An almost two-year-long in‐ ternal investigation into how military police han‐ dled the criminal case of an air force officer who took his own life after being charged with sexual as‐ sault has cleared the offi‐ cers involved of any wrong‐ doing, CBC News has learned.
The report by the Office of Professional Standards of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, dated Feb. 9, 2024, concluded that complaints made by the family of Maj. Cristian Hiestand were "not substantiated."
The officers involved insist that their investigation was not conducted hastily.
Hiestand was charged with two counts of sexual as‐ sault in the late fall of 2021, days after he'd ended a tu‐ multuous, short-term rela‐ tionship 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 with‐ in five days of authorities re‐ ceiving a complaint from the civilian woman in question.
CBC News first profiled the Hiestand case 18 months ago.
His family members claimed that the military police investigation was rushed. They said the investi‐ gating officers failed to talk with Hiestand or look at text messages he exchanged with the woman he was accused of sexually assaulting on two occasions - information he claimed would exonerate him.
According to the family, military police officers told Hiestand they had enough evidence to charge him and didn't need to interrogate him.
Hiestand took his own life on Jan. 18, 2022, a little more than a month after being ar‐ rested. A military board of in‐ quiry concluded last year that Hiestand, a pilot instruc‐ tor at the airbase in Moose Jaw, Sask., was deemed by medical staff as a "moderate" suicide risk, but there was lit‐ tle formal follow-up by his su‐ periors.
WATCH: Military police officer under investigation following officer's suicide
The Military Police Com‐ plaints Commission (MPCC), an independent watchdog agency, indicated last year it was prepared to conduct its own separate investigation into how Hiestand's case was handled once the military's professional standards re‐ view was completed.
The commission received three complaints - two from Hiestand's family and a third from a former military officer who at the time was serving at the military police detach‐ ment that handled Hiestand's case.
The internal professional standards review found that Hiestand's interrogation by military police lasted a little more than four minutes and was captured on video.
The "investigator did not observe any 'overwhelming evidence' from Maj. Hiestand that may cause a reasonable officer in like circumstances" to consider not charging him, said the report, obtained by CBC News.
It noted that Hiestand "was offered multiple oppor‐ tunities to provide a state‐ ment during custody and was provided means to con‐ tact investigators at a later time if he changed his mind." The report acknowledged, however, that his lawyer had told him not to provide a statement.
The report makes no ref‐ erence to - or even mention the family's allegation that military police told Hiestand they had enough evidence to lay a charge.
Instead, the report notes that the investigation contin‐ ued almost to the moment of Hiestand's death and that military officers examined text messages on the com‐ plainant's phone in a "prelim‐ inary manner" before order‐ ing a deeper forensic exami‐ nation of all of the ex‐ changes.
'It's a snow job,' says family's lawyer
Lt.-Commander Jamie Bresolin, a spokesperson for the provost marshal, defend‐ ed the review, saying it con‐ cluded investigators believed they had the "reasonable grounds to believe an of‐ fence had been committed" required by the Criminal Code and case law.
"Police officers can lay charges as soon as they ob‐ tain their reasonable and probable grounds to believe an offence was committed and continue with their in‐ vestigation thereafter," he said in an email statement.
The internal review also doesn't address separate al‐ legations - made to the MPCC by a former military cop that investigators in the Hies‐ tand case allowed an uniden‐ tified man to sit in on the questioning of the com‐ plainant.
Bresolin said the reviewer can only look at allegations provided during the conduct complaint process.
The lawyer for the family, retired lieutenant-colonel Rory Fowler, said there are a lot of holes in the internal professional services review.
"It's a snow job," he said. "The military police are pro‐ tecting their own and more importantly, protecting the supposed integrity of their institution by conducting re‐ ally a superficial examination from a professional stan‐ dards perspective."