The Abdirahman Abdi inquest: A day-by-day guide
Inquest wraps with Abdi's death declared a homicide and 57 calls for change
More than eight years after 38-year-old Somali-Canadian Abdirahman Abdi died following a violent altercation with Ottawa police, a four-week coroner's inquest dove back into the circumstances of his high-profile death.
The constable who punched Abdi in the head while trying to handcuff him was acquitted of manslaughter in 2020, and the family settled a lawsuit with police later that year.
So what was left to unpack?
Lots, according to the inquest's statement of scope, especially when it comes to the police service's policies and training on everything from use of force to anti-Black racism.
WATCH | A look at what led to the inquest:
The fact-finding mission also looked at what happened before the encounter including Abdi's background and his struggle with mental illness, as well as the event's aftermath.
The fully virtual inquest began Nov. 18 and wrapped on Dec. 17, with the jury declaring Abdi's death a homicide and issuing 57 calls to change, nearly half of them to the Ottawa Police Service.
Inquests are not criminal proceedings but are more free-ranging in their lines of inquiry than trials.
Here's a guide to what the inquest heard.
Day 1: A rare glimpse into Abdi's past
Through a lawyer, Abdi's loved ones delivered an opening statement cataloguing the emotional toll suffered by his family — including a daughter born seven months after his death.
The inquest then heard from its first witness, a psychiatrist who was visiting Ottawa and who happened to be one of the civilians to come in contact with Abdi before police stepped in.
Day 2: What led police to Abdi
Officers were responding to calls that Abdi had groped women in his Hintonburg neighbourhood.
An off-duty paramedic gave his account of the chaotic moments before police arrived.
Day 3: Former constable testifies
David Weir, the first officer to try to arrest Abdi, told the inquest that July 2016 day is the reason he's no longer working as a police officer.
"This call has been traumatic for me, and still is to this day," Weir said.
Day 4: Weir and Abdi family lawyer spar
Weir accused Lawrence Greenspon, an Abdi family lawyer, of trivializing parts of his testimony, while Greenspon dug in on the issue of de-escalation.
Under later questioning by an advocacy group for people in police-involved incidents, Weir said he was not aware anti-Black racism is a systemic issue in policing.
Day 5: Montsion breaks his silence
Const. Daniel Montsion didn't testify at his own criminal trial, but did offer his first public account of the Abdi arrest to close out the inquest's first week.
"It was on my mind that this might be a mental health call," Montsion said, later adding that with Abdi being, in his view, assaultive, "it was past that point."
Day 6: Tension and confusion at the hospital
The second week kicked off with a family friend who documented the altercation's aftermath on video and fought for the family's need to say a final prayer for Abdi as he lay in hospital.
The ICU doctor in charge of Abdi's care then talked about a lack of information from police around the circumstances of what brought Abdi to the hospital.
Day 7: A view from within
The lone witness was Carla Shipley with Unity Housing, the group that operates the apartment building where Abdi and his family lived. Weir and Montsion grappled with Abdi outside its front entrance.
Most residents are from marginalized and racialized communities, and tenants have resisted increased police presence and the idea of having an Ottawa police representative sit on Unity's board, Shipley said.
Shipley has also heard from some Ottawa police officers since Abdi's death that they're concerned about going to the building because they fear the residents will not work with them.
"It's definitely a very strained relationship," she said.
Day 8: The paramedic and the psychiatrist
The advanced care paramedic who took Abdi to the hospital said he did not recall police telling him about Montsion's blows to Abdi's head during the chaotic aftermath of Abdi's arrest.
The back half of the day then took an intensely personal swerve into Abdi's mental health history in the months before his death.
Day 9: Abdi's meds and new 911 call training
The last psychiatrist to treat Abdi filled in one of the last remaining narrative gaps on offer at the inquest, which has transitioned to a new phase focused on testimony from experts and institutional representatives.
The operations manager of the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) communications centre, which takes 911 calls and relays information to the officers who respond to those calls, said the police service is preparing to roll out new training in early 2025 for how to "deal better" with calls that involve mental health.
Day 10: How to help those like Abdi
At the end of its second week, the inquest heard from the Ottawa Guiding Council for Mental Health and Addictions that, while some systemic changes have taken place since Abdi's death, they wouldn't have applied to people in Abdi's situation on the day of his arrest.
Some programs might have been of aid to Abdi in the months before his arrest, a senior paramedic helped show.
Day 11: Inside Ottawa police's mental health unit
The sergeant who leads the force's mental health unit outlined plans to expand the group, which is still the same size as it was when it launched over two decades ago.
The senior OPS official tasked with handling public outcry after Abdi's death then began his testimony, which carried over into Day 12 and Day 15. He recounted how, since 2020, officers filling out use-of-force forms must note their perceptions of a person's race.
Day 12: Police training and body camera plans
The mandatory anti-Black racism training received by all Ottawa officers went under the microscope. A lawyer for the Black Action Defence Committee called the training's approach to dismantling Black stereotypes "soft-handed."
Body-worn cameras, which the police service plans to try out in the coming years, were also discussed as a potential way to reduce the number of use-of-force incidents in Ottawa, which disproportionately affect Black people.
Day 13: Abdi's likely state of mind
A psychiatrist who reviewed Abdi's case for the inquest said his behaviour on the day of his arrest reflected a person suffering from schizophrenia.
The inquest then heard from an instructor at the Ontario Police College, where Weir received basic constable training in 2002.
Day 14: Revisiting the cause of death
Ontario's chief forensic pathologist said he agreed with the finding of the doctor who conducted Abdi's autopsy: that Abdi died of heart failure due to a number of factors. But to the concern of some inquest participants, he also added another element: Abdi's unconfirmed schizophrenia diagnosis.
Day 14 also exposed the Abdi family's frustration over having to revisit these events more than eight years later. Witnesses have also expressed misgivings about the inquest system.
Day 15: All about the gloves
The reinforced gloves Montsion wore when he struck Abdi were a big talking point before and during his trial, but the details of their provenance were largely a mystery — until now.
The inquest heard they were never meant to be used as weapons but that, at the same time, officers were never trained on what they were supposed to be used for.
Day 16: The police internal investigation
Ottawa police's internal review of the Abdi incident found no service, conduct, or policy issues in terms of the arrest itself. But it did flag an "inappropriate" training video meant to "motivate and engage officers for their subsequent practical training exercises" during use-of-force instruction in 2016, the same year as Abdi's death.
The findings of the internal investigation were not formally reported to the Ottawa Police Services Board (OPSB), OPS's civilian-led oversight body, even though the police force was legally required to do so.
Day 17: The first aid officers gave Abdi
The ongoing questioning of one of the officers who conducted Ottawa police's internal review into the Abdi incident explored the degree of first aid given to Abdi after he was handcuffed and unresponsive. No CPR was provided until paramedics arrived.
The inquest then heard from an expert who said statistics suggest Black people in Ontario are about four to five times more likely to be involved in police use-of-force incidents than are white people.
Day 18: Scrutinizing OPS's use of force
An OPS sergeant who trains officers in use of force said a new panel including civilians will begin its work of monitoring use-of-force stats in early 2025. The members should be announced soon, the inquest had previously heard.
The inquest lawyers then went off camera to craft their joint pitches to the jury for solutions to avoid deaths like Abdi's.
Day 19: The police oversight board
Ottawa city councillor Marty Carr, the current vice-chair of the OPSB, agreed it was a failure for the police service to have never sent the board a report on the internal review into the Abdi incident. The board now keeps tighter track of such things.
She also agreed that failure may have impeded the board's ability to ensure OPS provides adequate and effective policing services.
Carr outlined work the board is doing to help address the disproportionate amount of force used against racialized people in Ottawa and said it's "expecting to see a change."
Day 20: The final witness
Deputy Chief Steve Bell, as the most senior OPS official to testify at the inquest, was asked about a list of familiar issues: the gloves, the video, first aid, the internal review, and officer training in crisis intervention, mental health awareness, anti-Black racism and de-escalation.
Bell acknowledged the force's relationship with Ottawa's Somali community is "very fractured" and said "we have much more work to do."
Day 21: Closing submissions
Lawyers representing Abdi's family, police, the board and other interest groups pitched the jury on suggested recommendations for preventing deaths like Abdi's in the future.
The jury then retired late on Monday to start working on the official slate of recommendations. It will also lay out Abdi's cause and manner of death.
Deliberations carried over into:
Day 22: Decision day
The jury declared Abdi's death a homicide, which has a specific meaning in the context of a coroner's inquest.
- Read the full list of recommendations here.
It also issued 57 calls for change, including improved anti-bias and use of force training at the police service, and recommended inquests take place as closely to a death as possible.
"Eight years is far too long to wait for bereaved families to have their tragic loss before the public eye," Greenspon said.
WATCH | More of the reaction to the jury's recommendations:
Key texts
A number of exhibits were submitted to help inform the inquest testimony.
Here's a link to some of the major ones, along with a decision that hovered over the proceedings: the judge's written decision of non-guilt in Montsion's manslaughter case.
- The judge's decision in the Montsion trial.
- An explanation, including a Venn diagram, of that judge's finding on Abdi's cause of death.
- Inquest definitions for the "manner of death" options.
- The inquest's agreed statement of facts.
- An outline of Abdi's mental health history.
- A timeline of police and paramedic calls on the day of the arrest.
- The internal Ottawa police review of the Abdi incident.
- The inquest jury's verdict.
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