SIU investigating after police reportedly shot man dead in northern Ontario court

A Special Investigations Unit logo is seen on a truck at Toronto Pearson International Airport, in Mississauga, Ont., on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey)

Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating a report that an officer fatally shot a man inside a courtroom in a remote part of northern Ontario on Thursday.

Kristy Denette, a spokesperson for the Special Investigations Unit, said a team of investigators was heading to the scene in Wapekeka First Nation but more details wouldn’t be available until Friday.

Ontario Provincial Police said late Thursday that an officer from its Sioux Lookout detachment shot an “individual armed with a knife on Wapekeka First Nation” around noon, but did not specify the location.

“As a result, the armed individual was pronounced deceased at the scene,” OPP said in a news release.

Lawyer Karen Seeley said she heard about the shooting from colleagues who were present at what she described as a makeshift courtroom inside a community centre.

Seeley, a partner at a Dryden, Ont.-based law firm, said witnesses described a person who walked into court and pulled out what appeared to be a knife before an officer shot him.

“It was shocking,” said Seeley, who has been practising law in northern Ontario for many years.

“Nothing like this has ever happened ... to my knowledge,” she said, adding that her colleagues and the community are shaken.

The Wapekeka courthouse is described on its website as a fly-in location that provides a small number of court services on limited dates.

Seeley said that court, like many others in northern parts of the province, doesn’t have metal detectors.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2025.

Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press