— Your Evening Update — 

November 22, 2024

The death of Abdirahman Abdi was one that shook the city. A day after a violent arrest, Abdi died in hospital.

One of the officers who arrested Abdi, Const. Daniel Montsion, was put on trial for manslaughter and assault, charges he was acquitted of.

In the intervening eight years since his death, questions have lingered. This week, a coroner's inquest got underway.

Montsion did not testify at his trial, but for the first time, we heard directly from him as he took the stand at the inquest into Abdi's death.

Reporter Marlo Glass has been following the proceedings and has the latest from Montsion's testimony, as he walked through his thinking in 2016 as he took part in the fateful arrest.

That and more in your news of the day.

PHOTO: Jean Levac / POSTMEDIA

Return-to-office rules broken by almost a third of Treasury Board staff: document

By Catherine Morrison

Employees working at the federal department that enforced new return-to-office rules for thousands of public servants have only been about 70 per cent compliant with the mandate, according to government records.

A chart, obtained by the Ottawa Citizen via an access-to-information request, showed that only 70.82 per cent of Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) workers followed the new rules in September.

According to the chart, just 65.26 per cent of TBS employees complied with the requirement the week of Sept. 9, the date the new rules came into effect. It also showed that compliance was 67.81 per cent during the week of Sept. 16; 68.47 per cent during the week of Sept. 23; and 81.02 per cent during the week of Sept. 30.

HOW THE DATA WAS ANALYZED

 DEFENCE WATCH 

No plans to buy first person drones for Canadian Armed Forces

Today's Evening Update was curated and assembled by Lois Kirkup. Our entire newsroom is proud to produce and share the journalism you see in this newsletter. If you’d like to support the Ottawa Citizen's mission to challenge the capital to be an inspiring, world-class, livable city, why not sign up for a digital subscription? We'd love to have you on board. 

PHOTO: Sean Kilpatrick / POSTMEDIA

Pat King found guilty of mischief for role in convoy protest

Pat King, one of the most prominent figures of the 2022 convoy protest in Ottawa, has been found guilty on five counts including mischief and disobeying a court order.

A judge in an Ottawa courtroom Friday said the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that King was guilty on one count each of mischief, counselling others to commit mischief and counselling others to obstruct police. He was also found guilty of two counts of disobeying a court order.

The Alberta resident was found not guilty on three counts of intimidation and one count of obstructing police himself.

HOW THE CROWN BUILT ITS CASE

 'FORCE MULTIPLIER' 

Ottawa police mounted unit 'a game changer,' chief says

PHOTO: Errol McGihon / POSTMEDIA

Ottawa police officer found not guilty of manslaughter testifies at Abdirahman Abdi inquest

By Marlo Glass

The Ottawa police officer who was found not guilty of manslaughter in the 2016 death of Abdirahman Abdi is speaking publicly about the violent altercation for the first time.

Const. Daniel Montsion testified on the fifth day of the coroner’s inquest into Abdi’s death. Abdi, a 38-year-old Somali Canadian, died in hospital after he was arrested on June 24, 2016, by Montsion and Const. David Weir, who testified earlier in the inquest.

The inquest is mandatory because Abdi died in police custody. It was delayed in part by Montsion’s criminal proceeding. He was charged with manslaughter, but was found not guilty after a judge-alone trial.

WHAT MONTSION SAID 

 PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS 

Pellerin: No one in Ottawa should be going hungry — particularly since we can fix it

• Will you be eligible to receive the newly promised $250 tax rebate from Ottawa?

• Victim of Oct. 8 arson fire in Nepean dies in hospital

• New price for OC Transpo seniors bus pass on the table

• Gatineau driver caught doing 112 km/h in school zone

THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Click on the photo to play today's puzzle

PHOTO OF THE DAY