Overview
- Releasing its final report on Dec. 9, the Military Police Complaints Commission found the CFNIS investigation was compromised by tunnel vision, investigative bias, inadequate supervision, and failures to meet core standards.
- The report details concrete breakdowns, including unrecorded key interviews, missing summaries or transcripts in the file, failure to interview three potential witnesses, and a decision not to manage the high-profile file as a major case.
- The commission calls for reforms such as recording all investigative interviews, better training on unconscious bias and tunnel vision, and stronger supervision and oversight of investigators.
- The watchdog found no evidence of undue external pressure or political interference, noting that in Quebec the final charging decision rested with an independent prosecutor who reviewed all available evidence.
- Fortin, removed from Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout in May 2021, was acquitted in December 2022, later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum, and retired from the military in 2023.