No Visible Trauma

Calgary is Canada’s fourth largest city, known as the centre of the country’s oil industry and a gateway to the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, Calgary has also become known for the violence and dysfunction of its police department.

Recent years have seen the Calgary Police Service (CPS) shoot and kill disproportionately high numbers of people. In 2018, CPS was involved in more fatal shootings than the Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Edmonton police departments combined. In a scathing exposé of a deeply troubled police department, No Visible Trauma reveals the devastating consequences of police officers not being held to account for violent behaviour.

Through dogged investigation, never-before-seen evidence, and disturbing police video recordings, the film unravels the intertwined stories of three individuals who suffered severe violence at the hands of Calgary police officers: in 2013, Godfred Addai-Nyamekye (pictured above) was kidnapped and abandoned in -28°C (-18°F) weather by two officers before being brutally beaten and tasered by another; eighteen months later, the same officer who assaulted Godfred viciously punched and flung Daniel Haworth to the ground while handcuffed, causing permanent brain damage; and in 2015, Anthony Heffernan was shot four times and killed after five officers broke down the door of his hotel room during a “welfare check”.

Exclusive interviews with police executives, whistleblowers, lawyers, victims’ families, and one brave survivor reveal systemic failings in the government oversight bodies who are supposed to safeguard the public from the abuse of power. From glaring double standards in the justice system, to shocking levels of bullying, harassment, and intimidation within the police force itself, No Visible Trauma makes clear that the police accountability issues in Calgary are not simply the case of a few bad apples, but rather the predictable outcome of a much deeper rot.