On a brilliant October day when I pulled up to the cluster of brown highrises in the Gloucester suburb of Ottawa, there was no immediate indication of the tragedy that unfolded there two days earlier.
A couple of teenagers were shooting hoops in the adjacent court, while window cleaners were hoisting themselves up the tower. Then I saw it. Two small bouquets of flowers, white roses and blue carnations on a patch of grass, next to a tree by the building’s side door. As I walked closer I could see a votive candle placed on top of a note card scrawled with the words “RIP Anthony.”
Anthony Aust died on October 7, 2020. The 23-year-old was on house arrest and wearing a GPS tracker when he fell from his twelfth floor apartment window following an Ottawa police raid. Heavily armed officers rammed through the door and threw a stun grenade in what’s commonly called, a no knock raid.
I was there to speak with his family about their grief, but also about their anger. His mother in particular, believes his death was entirely preventable.
Earlier in the year, Nhora had fought to get bail for her son. He was facing drug trafficking charges and she worried he would get COVID-19 and die in jail. Instead he died at home, in the place where he was supposed to be safe.
“The door wasn’t even locked,” said Aust’s stepfather, Ben. “All they had to do was knock.”
Our Fifth Estate investigation, "When police don't knock," looks at how often police in Canada are using no-knock raids. Who decides when they should be used, and who is answerable for the innocent people sometimes caught in the crosshairs of a mistake?
People like American Breonna Taylor, killed by police who stormed her home looking for someone else.
The U.S. is now banning the tactic in some states. In Canada, the debate over its use is just beginning.
And tune in to our second story of tonight’s episode, "Broken honour: sexual misconduct in the military," with Tom Murphy. In a program called Operation Honour, the Canadian Armed Forces pledged to stamp out sexual violence that had reached crisis levels in its ranks. Our investigation reveals how military police and justice officials fell below the standards of the civilian world, and how the man at the top, Gen. Jonathan Vance, touted the program’s success even though it secured few criminal convictions. Former insiders call for sexual assault investigations to be taken out of the hands of the military. Join us for "When police don't knock" and "Broken honour: sexual misconduct in the military" tonight at 9 p.m., 9:30 p.m. in Newfoundland and Labrador on CBC Television and streaming on CBC Gem. - Judy Trinh and The Fifth Estate team |
