Eric Nothing was shot by Nishnawbe Aski police officer, year after dad died in OPP shooting
Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) officer of wrongdoing in connection with the death of a man in Deer Lake First Nation who was shot five times.
The 40-year-old man, identified by his family as Eric Nothing, died on July 22 in the remote Oji-Cree community, about 580 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, where fewer than 1,200 people live
The province’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said officers attended a residence in the First Nation with two arrest warrants for Nothing: one for assault with a weapon and the other for failing to comply with a court order as well as domestic assault.
“The man [Nothing] grabbed two knives and refused to drop them, going in and out of the home. The man eventually emerged from the home with two knives and his shirt on fire, running toward an officer,” the SIU said in its report issued Wednesday.
“The officer fired five shots at the man. He collapsed and was pronounced deceased at the nursing station.”
'Officer shot the man to protect himself': SIU director
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
Ultimately, SIU director Joseph Martino “was satisfied that the officer shot the man to protect himself from a reasonably apprehended knife attack,” the agency said.
A year earlier, Nothing’s father, 57-year-old Bruce Wallace Frogg, was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer in Kenora. The SIU determined there was no basis to lay criminal charges in connection with Frogg’s death.
In Nothing’s case, the SIU assigned two investigators and two forensic investigators. A total of seven civilian witnesses and two witness officials were interviewed, while the police officer in question — referred to as the subject official — declined to be interviewed, “as is [their] legal right,” the SIU said.
Though Martino said there were opportunities for police to use a conducted energy weapon (CEW) against Nothing, “I am unable to fault the officers for choosing instead to continue with their efforts to de-escalate the situation through verbal communication.”
“As for withdrawal or retreat, these were not viable options given the presence of women and children in the house, whose safety would have been on the minds of the officers,” Martino said in his report.
The post-mortem examination wasn’t received by the SIU until Nov. 25, the report noted.
CBC News has reached out to Nothing's family as well as Deer Lake's chief for comment on the SIU report and is waiting to hear back from them.
In the summer, Joshua Frogg, Nothing’s uncle, said his nephew grew up in Wapekeka First Nation and moved to Deer Lake after getting married.
He described Nothing as an intergenerational residential school survivor, and said he was a hard worker and a good person.
During the community's evacuation earlier this year due to a nearby wildfire, Nothing stayed behind to help with building maintenance and look after people's pets.
At the time, Joshua had called for a separate agency to look into Nothing's death instead of the SIU, citing concerns with the agency being staffed by former police officers.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
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Officer who shot Deer Lake First Nation man 5 times cleared of wrongdoing, Ontario police watchdog says
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Officer who shot Deer Lake First Nation man 5 times cleared of wrongdoing, Ontario police watchdog says
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Police watchdog says officer acted in self-defence in shooting death of Eric Nothing
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says it has found no reasonable grounds to believe a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the death of a 40-year-old man in Deer Lake First Nation this past summer.
The SIU says it was called in following the incident on July 22.
Officers went to the residence in Deer Lake First Nation, 580 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, to take the man into custody on the strength of two arrest warrants.
According to the SIU, the man grabbed two knifes and refused to drop them and kept going in and out of the home.
The man, later identified to APTN News as Eric Nothing, eventually emerged from the home with two knives and his shirt on fire and ran towards a NAPS officer. The officer fired five shots. He collapsed and was pronounced deceased at the nursing station.
Nothing’s death came nearly one year after his father, Bruce Frogg, 57, was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police Office in at Anicinabe Park in Kenora, Ont., On June 25, 2024.
The SIU report into Frogg’s death, released July 2, 2025, “found no reasonable grounds to believe an Ontario Provincial Police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the death” of Frogg.
During the SIU investigation into the death of Nothing, evidence collected included interviews with police, non-police witnesses, and video evidence that captured the incident in part.
NAPS officers were there two arrest Nothing for two warrants, including assault with a weapon and the other for failing to comply with a court order and for domestic assault involving his partner.
At the time of the incident, police said Nothing’s ex-girlfriend was in the house with kids, along with another person and three other children.
SIU director Joseph Martino, in his decision, said he was satisfied the officer’s “gunfire constituted reasonable force in self-defence.”
Martino wrote, “the evidence suggests he was determined to avoid going to jail. He also harboured ill will towards the police for the death of a relative in the course of an incident with police, and had apparently talked about provoking a similar confrontation with police by threatening them with a knife. The Complainant seems to have put that plan in action when he advanced quickly down the porch ramp, holding knives with his shirt on fire.”
Martino, in his analysis, found there were opportunities earlier in the engagement where officers might have used their conducted energy weapons but was “unable to fault the officers for choosing instead to continue with their efforts to de-escalate the situation through verbal communication,” wrote Martino.
“As for withdrawal or retreat, these were not viable options given the presence of women and children in the house, whose safety would have been on the minds of the officers.”
The SIU investigation in now concluded.
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/p ... c-nothing/
The SIU says it was called in following the incident on July 22.
Officers went to the residence in Deer Lake First Nation, 580 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, to take the man into custody on the strength of two arrest warrants.
According to the SIU, the man grabbed two knifes and refused to drop them and kept going in and out of the home.
The man, later identified to APTN News as Eric Nothing, eventually emerged from the home with two knives and his shirt on fire and ran towards a NAPS officer. The officer fired five shots. He collapsed and was pronounced deceased at the nursing station.
Nothing’s death came nearly one year after his father, Bruce Frogg, 57, was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police Office in at Anicinabe Park in Kenora, Ont., On June 25, 2024.
The SIU report into Frogg’s death, released July 2, 2025, “found no reasonable grounds to believe an Ontario Provincial Police officer committed a criminal offence in connection with the death” of Frogg.
During the SIU investigation into the death of Nothing, evidence collected included interviews with police, non-police witnesses, and video evidence that captured the incident in part.
NAPS officers were there two arrest Nothing for two warrants, including assault with a weapon and the other for failing to comply with a court order and for domestic assault involving his partner.
At the time of the incident, police said Nothing’s ex-girlfriend was in the house with kids, along with another person and three other children.
SIU director Joseph Martino, in his decision, said he was satisfied the officer’s “gunfire constituted reasonable force in self-defence.”
Martino wrote, “the evidence suggests he was determined to avoid going to jail. He also harboured ill will towards the police for the death of a relative in the course of an incident with police, and had apparently talked about provoking a similar confrontation with police by threatening them with a knife. The Complainant seems to have put that plan in action when he advanced quickly down the porch ramp, holding knives with his shirt on fire.”
Martino, in his analysis, found there were opportunities earlier in the engagement where officers might have used their conducted energy weapons but was “unable to fault the officers for choosing instead to continue with their efforts to de-escalate the situation through verbal communication,” wrote Martino.
“As for withdrawal or retreat, these were not viable options given the presence of women and children in the house, whose safety would have been on the minds of the officers.”
The SIU investigation in now concluded.
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Family of First Nation man shot 5 times by police officer calls for changes at Ontario's SIU
Joshua Frogg says police watchdog shouldn't be staffed by former officers
Joshua Frogg says he isn’t surprised about the outcome of the investigation into his nephew's death, but wants to see changes to prevent former police officers from being involved in these types of cases.
Eric Nothing, 40, was shot and killed by a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) officer on July 22 in Deer Lake First Nation, a remote Oji-Cree community about 580 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says Nothing had approached the officer with two knives and his shirt was on fire.
He shot Nothing five times. The SIU cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
“I'm a hunter, right? So when I shoot an animal, I don't keep on shooting it when it goes down,” Frogg said. “When it was revealed to us that all five shots hit their target, it just sounds like he kept on shooting after Eric went down.”
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
In clearing the officer last week, SIU director Joseph Martino said he “was satisfied that the officer shot the man to protect himself from a reasonably apprehended knife attack.”
A year earlier, Nothing’s father, Bruce Wallace Frogg, was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer in Kenora. The SIU determined there was no basis to lay criminal charges in connection with his death.
“The last two [SIU] reports haven't made any sense to us,” Joshua Frogg said.
Joshua's other nephew, 23-year-old Tyresse Kenny Padro Cree Roundsky, was shot and killed by a police officer in a makeshift courtroom in Wapekeka First Nation on July 31. The SIU’s investigation into his death remains ongoing.
“I really feel for [Roundsky’s immediate] family because I think it's going to be the same result,” Joshua said of the investigation.
“I don't expect anything different, right? Police policing themselves — that's just not normal, not acceptable.”
The SIU has historically been criticized for how many of its investigators have police backgrounds. CBC News reached out to the SIU about this and received an emailed statement on Wednesday.
“The SIU has a complement of 16 lead investigators, of which seven have never worked as police officers in Ontario,” it says. “In the event a former police officer is assigned to a case, they cannot be assigned to a case involving a police service they had once worked for.”
As well, “the SIU director can never have been a police officer.”
Cultural support, relationship building
When members of the SIU went over the report with Nothing’s family, Joshua said they were brought to a room at the Kenora Courthouse, where they could hear proceedings taking place next to them. It took between 15 and 20 minutes, he said.
He wishes there was a more private, comfortable space to discuss the report’s findings, given the upsetting nature of how his nephew died, he said.
“It's been very difficult, very hard to come to terms with it,” Joshua said. “We haven't come to terms with it yet because the pain is still there, right? It just doesn't go away.”
Just over two years ago, the SIU released a report after collecting race-based data in connection with investigations between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021.
It found that people who identified as Indigenous were nearly 6.25 times more frequently represented in SIU investigations than non-Indigenous people.
Joshua said it would have been helpful to have elders and cultural practitioners supporting the family while going through the report.
In its statement to CBC News, the SIU said that whenever possible, “a member of the SIU’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis Liaison Program (FNIMLP) leads or participates in investigations involving Indigenous peoples or communities to ensure investigations are conducted with respect and sensitivity.”
Investigators receive ongoing cultural sensitivity training to aid their examinations, it added.
The program, launched in 2006, focuses on “relationship building between the SIU and Indigenous communities.” It consists of a senior adviser from Curve Lake First Nation, two lead investigators, eight regional investigators and three forensic identification investigators, the agency said.
As well, the SIU offers an Affected Persons Program to “co-ordinate appropriate cultural or any other supports during and after the investigation.”
Still, Joshua said he doesn’t think he can ever trust the SIU, unless it no longer involves former police officers in investigations.
“There needs to be an independent unit, not former police officers policing the police.”
Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
Sarah Law is a CBC News reporter based in Thunder Bay, Ont., and has also worked for newspapers and online publications elsewhere in the province. Have a story tip? You can reach her at sarah.law@cbc.ca.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder- ... -9.7021477
Joshua Frogg says he isn’t surprised about the outcome of the investigation into his nephew's death, but wants to see changes to prevent former police officers from being involved in these types of cases.
Eric Nothing, 40, was shot and killed by a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) officer on July 22 in Deer Lake First Nation, a remote Oji-Cree community about 580 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says Nothing had approached the officer with two knives and his shirt was on fire.
He shot Nothing five times. The SIU cleared the officer of wrongdoing.
“I'm a hunter, right? So when I shoot an animal, I don't keep on shooting it when it goes down,” Frogg said. “When it was revealed to us that all five shots hit their target, it just sounds like he kept on shooting after Eric went down.”
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
In clearing the officer last week, SIU director Joseph Martino said he “was satisfied that the officer shot the man to protect himself from a reasonably apprehended knife attack.”
A year earlier, Nothing’s father, Bruce Wallace Frogg, was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer in Kenora. The SIU determined there was no basis to lay criminal charges in connection with his death.
“The last two [SIU] reports haven't made any sense to us,” Joshua Frogg said.
Joshua's other nephew, 23-year-old Tyresse Kenny Padro Cree Roundsky, was shot and killed by a police officer in a makeshift courtroom in Wapekeka First Nation on July 31. The SIU’s investigation into his death remains ongoing.
“I really feel for [Roundsky’s immediate] family because I think it's going to be the same result,” Joshua said of the investigation.
“I don't expect anything different, right? Police policing themselves — that's just not normal, not acceptable.”
The SIU has historically been criticized for how many of its investigators have police backgrounds. CBC News reached out to the SIU about this and received an emailed statement on Wednesday.
“The SIU has a complement of 16 lead investigators, of which seven have never worked as police officers in Ontario,” it says. “In the event a former police officer is assigned to a case, they cannot be assigned to a case involving a police service they had once worked for.”
As well, “the SIU director can never have been a police officer.”
Cultural support, relationship building
When members of the SIU went over the report with Nothing’s family, Joshua said they were brought to a room at the Kenora Courthouse, where they could hear proceedings taking place next to them. It took between 15 and 20 minutes, he said.
He wishes there was a more private, comfortable space to discuss the report’s findings, given the upsetting nature of how his nephew died, he said.
“It's been very difficult, very hard to come to terms with it,” Joshua said. “We haven't come to terms with it yet because the pain is still there, right? It just doesn't go away.”
Just over two years ago, the SIU released a report after collecting race-based data in connection with investigations between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021.
It found that people who identified as Indigenous were nearly 6.25 times more frequently represented in SIU investigations than non-Indigenous people.
Joshua said it would have been helpful to have elders and cultural practitioners supporting the family while going through the report.
In its statement to CBC News, the SIU said that whenever possible, “a member of the SIU’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis Liaison Program (FNIMLP) leads or participates in investigations involving Indigenous peoples or communities to ensure investigations are conducted with respect and sensitivity.”
Investigators receive ongoing cultural sensitivity training to aid their examinations, it added.
The program, launched in 2006, focuses on “relationship building between the SIU and Indigenous communities.” It consists of a senior adviser from Curve Lake First Nation, two lead investigators, eight regional investigators and three forensic identification investigators, the agency said.
As well, the SIU offers an Affected Persons Program to “co-ordinate appropriate cultural or any other supports during and after the investigation.”
Still, Joshua said he doesn’t think he can ever trust the SIU, unless it no longer involves former police officers in investigations.
“There needs to be an independent unit, not former police officers policing the police.”
Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or by online chat at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
Sarah Law is a CBC News reporter based in Thunder Bay, Ont., and has also worked for newspapers and online publications elsewhere in the province. Have a story tip? You can reach her at sarah.law@cbc.ca.
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Ontario police officer cleared in shooting death of First Nation man in makeshift courtroom
Ontario’s police watchdog has cleared an officer of any wrongdoing in connection with the shooting death of a 23-year-old man in Wapekeka First Nation.
Tyresse Kenny Padro Cree Roundsky died on July 31, 2025 after receiving a gunshot wound to the chest.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says the man, identified by his family and community as Roundsky, had approached an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer with a knife.
The incident took place in a makeshift courtroom inside the community’s youth centre, which burned down less than a month later.
The officer fired three shots at him.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
The agency released its report on Thursday, saying “there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.”
However, SIU director Joseph Martino noted that it took 40 minutes for officers to approach Roundsky’s body after he was shot.
“Though vested with a duty to preserve and protect life, there is evidence to suggest that the [OPP officer] unnecessarily delayed in rendering first-aid to [Roundsky] after the shooting,” Martino wrote.
“I will be raising this matter in my reporting letter to the OPP Commissioner. I will also be referring the matter to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.”
Wapekeka First Nation is a remote Oji-Cree community about 450 kilometres northeast of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario. Just under 500 people live there.
In less than a year and a half, three men with ties to Wapekeka First Nation were shot and killed by police in northwestern Ontario. The others were:
- Eric Nothing, 40, a member of Wapekeka First Nation, who was shot and killed by a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service officer in Deer Lake First Nation on July 22, 2025.
- Bruce Wallace Frogg, 57, a member of Wawakapewin First Nation and Eric Nothing’s father, who was shot and killed by a Kenora OPP officer at Anicinabe Park on June 25, 2024.
The SIU cleared the police officers involved of any wrongdoing in all three cases.
Shots fired in self-defence: SIU
The SIU says three investigators and two forensic investigators were assigned to Roundsky’s case.
A total of 18 civilian witnesses were interviewed between Aug. 1, 2025 and Aug. 21, 2025. A service employee witness was also interviewed.
The OPP officer, referred to as the subject official (SO) in the report, declined to be interviewed or provide notes.
The SIU’s investigation was delayed due to the time it took the agency to obtain an audio recording from the courtroom where the incident occurred.
“The evidence indicates that the SO fired his gun at [Roundsky] to defend himself from a reasonably apprehended attack,” Martino said in the report.
“Though the SO, as was his legal right, did not provide that evidence in an interview with the SIU, his mindset can safely be inferred from the circumstances that prevailed at the time, most emphatically, [Roundsky] advancing towards the officer with a knife when he discharged his weapon.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder- ... -9.7086936
Tyresse Kenny Padro Cree Roundsky died on July 31, 2025 after receiving a gunshot wound to the chest.
The Special Investigations Unit (SIU) says the man, identified by his family and community as Roundsky, had approached an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer with a knife.
The incident took place in a makeshift courtroom inside the community’s youth centre, which burned down less than a month later.
The officer fired three shots at him.
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
The agency released its report on Thursday, saying “there is no basis for proceeding with criminal charges in this case.”
However, SIU director Joseph Martino noted that it took 40 minutes for officers to approach Roundsky’s body after he was shot.
“Though vested with a duty to preserve and protect life, there is evidence to suggest that the [OPP officer] unnecessarily delayed in rendering first-aid to [Roundsky] after the shooting,” Martino wrote.
“I will be raising this matter in my reporting letter to the OPP Commissioner. I will also be referring the matter to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.”
Wapekeka First Nation is a remote Oji-Cree community about 450 kilometres northeast of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario. Just under 500 people live there.
In less than a year and a half, three men with ties to Wapekeka First Nation were shot and killed by police in northwestern Ontario. The others were:
- Eric Nothing, 40, a member of Wapekeka First Nation, who was shot and killed by a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service officer in Deer Lake First Nation on July 22, 2025.
- Bruce Wallace Frogg, 57, a member of Wawakapewin First Nation and Eric Nothing’s father, who was shot and killed by a Kenora OPP officer at Anicinabe Park on June 25, 2024.
The SIU cleared the police officers involved of any wrongdoing in all three cases.
Shots fired in self-defence: SIU
The SIU says three investigators and two forensic investigators were assigned to Roundsky’s case.
A total of 18 civilian witnesses were interviewed between Aug. 1, 2025 and Aug. 21, 2025. A service employee witness was also interviewed.
The OPP officer, referred to as the subject official (SO) in the report, declined to be interviewed or provide notes.
The SIU’s investigation was delayed due to the time it took the agency to obtain an audio recording from the courtroom where the incident occurred.
“The evidence indicates that the SO fired his gun at [Roundsky] to defend himself from a reasonably apprehended attack,” Martino said in the report.
“Though the SO, as was his legal right, did not provide that evidence in an interview with the SIU, his mindset can safely be inferred from the circumstances that prevailed at the time, most emphatically, [Roundsky] advancing towards the officer with a knife when he discharged his weapon.”
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Family of First Nation man killed in police shooting learned of SIU ruling online
3 men with ties to Wapekeka First Nation shot, killed by police between June 2024 and July 2025
Tyresse Roundsky’s family says they weren’t notified that the investigation into his death had been completed — until they saw a post about it on social media.
The 23-year-old from Wapekeka First Nation was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer on July 31, 2025 after approaching the officer with a knife. The incident took place in a makeshift courtroom inside the remote Oji-Cree community’s youth centre, which burned down less than a month later.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) released its report last Thursday, and determined there were no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges in connection with Roundsky’s death.
However, the report says it took 40 minutes for officers to approach Roundsky’s body after he was shot, and that “there is evidence to suggest that the [OPP officer] unnecessarily delayed in rendering first-aid to [Roundsky] after the shooting.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political-territorial organization which represents 49 First Nations across Treaties 9 and 5 — including Wapekeka — is “raising serious concerns” about the way Roundsky's case was handled.
“It is unacceptable that the family and community had to learn through the media that after being shot, their loved one was neglected for 40 minutes by a police officer who did not render aid,” said NAN’s Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler in a news release issued Wednesday.
“The SIU director has demonstrated a complete lack of sensitivity in the release of its report, and instead of providing much-needed oversight and accountability to the police, the release of the report has re-traumatized the family and a community already plagued with grief.”
In less than a year and a half, three men with ties to Wapekeka were shot and killed by police in northwestern Ontario. The others were:
- Eric Nothing, 40, a member of Wapekeka First Nation, who was shot and killed by a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service officer in Deer Lake First Nation on July 22, 2025.
- Bruce Wallace Frogg, 57, a member of Wawakapewin First Nation and Eric Nothing’s father, who was shot and killed by a Kenora OPP officer at Anicinabe Park on June 25, 2024.
In all three cases, the SIU cleared the police officers involved of any wrongdoing.
NAN has sent a letter to both the SIU and Attorney General of Ontario to demand accountability.
'I don't know if I made the right call'
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
In Frogg's case, the SIU reports that the officer who shot him stated, “I don’t know if that was the right call.”
“The family, along with NAN, have rejected the findings of [Frogg's] report ever since its release, and the report’s complete failure to consider key evidence pointing to an unlawful use of force,” Fiddler said.
“The SIU’s inexplicable decision to clear the officer, despite the officer’s own statement, moments after firing, that 'I don’t know if I made the right call,' allows me to confidently say that the SIU did not make the right call in its findings.”
SIU, Attorney General of Ontario respond
CBC News reached out to the SIU for comment on NAN’s concerns and received an emailed statement on Thursday, which says the agency is carefully reviewing Fiddler’s letter.
Neither the SIU nor Attorney General of Ontario commented on Frogg’s case in their responses to CBC News.
“While communication processes can always be strengthened, the SIU’s mandate is to conduct independent investigations into incidents involving police where there has been serious injury or death,” Hudon wrote on behalf of the SIU.
“The director’s decisions are based solely on the evidence gathered and the applicable legal standard.”
As for Roundsky, at the investigation's outset, investigators met with his family in person, “who identified the community leadership — the band council — as the preferred point of contact moving forward,” SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon wrote.
A virtual meeting was held Jan. 8, when the SIU was asked to communicate its findings with the band council and hold an in-person meeting at a later date, the agency said.
“When initial outreach to the identified community contact did not result in a response, the SIU proceeded to share the director’s decision with the band council by telephone on Feb. 11, 2026, and provided a copy of the director’s report electronically.
“The SIU also reiterated its availability to meet in person and offered additional supports to assist the family and community,” Hudon said. “Of course, we will be reaching out to the Grand Chief to discuss ways [the] notifications process can be improved moving forward.”
A spokesperson for the Attorney General of Ontario also provided an emailed statement to CBC News on Thursday, saying “while the SIU is an independent body, we expect the SIU to carry out its mandate to the highest standards.”
While the ministry cannot provide details on the SIU’s operations or comment on specific matters, it is reviewing Fiddler’s letter, said media spokesperson Alexandra Wilkes.
Hope, optimism ‘waning quickly’
Though Fiddler also questioned whether the SIU's First Nations, Inuit and Métis Liaison Program even exists, Hudon said the program, established in 2006, “is very much active.” She did not say how many Indigenous advisers or Indigenous liaisons are employed, however.
Still, the deaths of Frogg, Nothing and Roundsky have created deep trauma across NAN territory.
“Our teachings tell us to protect life, to care for one another, and to speak with honesty, yet our community now lives with fear and distrust toward policing because those values are not reflected in how our people are treated,” said Wapekeka’s Chief Brennan Sainnawap in NAN’s news release on Wednesday.
“If there is to be any healing or restoration of relationships, it must begin with truth, accountability, and respect for our families, our community, and this generation that has been impacted more deeply than we have ever known.”
As for Fiddler, he said he hopes his letter sends a message to the province about the impact these cases have had on the affected communities.
"The gap between the SIU’s stated goals, and the reality experienced by First Nations families, raises serious concerns about whether the SIU is truly equipped, or willing, to provide culturally competent services to individuals in their most vulnerable moments.," Fiddler said.
“The hope and optimism that we had for this new era of policing is waning quickly, and unless there is accountability for the SIU, it will revert to the era of deep mistrust towards the police, as well as the oversight bodies responsible for monitoring them.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder- ... -9.7097986
Tyresse Roundsky’s family says they weren’t notified that the investigation into his death had been completed — until they saw a post about it on social media.
The 23-year-old from Wapekeka First Nation was shot and killed by an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer on July 31, 2025 after approaching the officer with a knife. The incident took place in a makeshift courtroom inside the remote Oji-Cree community’s youth centre, which burned down less than a month later.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) released its report last Thursday, and determined there were no reasonable grounds to lay criminal charges in connection with Roundsky’s death.
However, the report says it took 40 minutes for officers to approach Roundsky’s body after he was shot, and that “there is evidence to suggest that the [OPP officer] unnecessarily delayed in rendering first-aid to [Roundsky] after the shooting.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation, a political-territorial organization which represents 49 First Nations across Treaties 9 and 5 — including Wapekeka — is “raising serious concerns” about the way Roundsky's case was handled.
“It is unacceptable that the family and community had to learn through the media that after being shot, their loved one was neglected for 40 minutes by a police officer who did not render aid,” said NAN’s Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler in a news release issued Wednesday.
“The SIU director has demonstrated a complete lack of sensitivity in the release of its report, and instead of providing much-needed oversight and accountability to the police, the release of the report has re-traumatized the family and a community already plagued with grief.”
In less than a year and a half, three men with ties to Wapekeka were shot and killed by police in northwestern Ontario. The others were:
- Eric Nothing, 40, a member of Wapekeka First Nation, who was shot and killed by a Nishnawbe Aski Police Service officer in Deer Lake First Nation on July 22, 2025.
- Bruce Wallace Frogg, 57, a member of Wawakapewin First Nation and Eric Nothing’s father, who was shot and killed by a Kenora OPP officer at Anicinabe Park on June 25, 2024.
In all three cases, the SIU cleared the police officers involved of any wrongdoing.
NAN has sent a letter to both the SIU and Attorney General of Ontario to demand accountability.
'I don't know if I made the right call'
The SIU is an independent government agency that investigates police conduct resulting in death, serious injury, sexual assault or the discharge of a firearm at a person.
In Frogg's case, the SIU reports that the officer who shot him stated, “I don’t know if that was the right call.”
“The family, along with NAN, have rejected the findings of [Frogg's] report ever since its release, and the report’s complete failure to consider key evidence pointing to an unlawful use of force,” Fiddler said.
“The SIU’s inexplicable decision to clear the officer, despite the officer’s own statement, moments after firing, that 'I don’t know if I made the right call,' allows me to confidently say that the SIU did not make the right call in its findings.”
SIU, Attorney General of Ontario respond
CBC News reached out to the SIU for comment on NAN’s concerns and received an emailed statement on Thursday, which says the agency is carefully reviewing Fiddler’s letter.
Neither the SIU nor Attorney General of Ontario commented on Frogg’s case in their responses to CBC News.
“While communication processes can always be strengthened, the SIU’s mandate is to conduct independent investigations into incidents involving police where there has been serious injury or death,” Hudon wrote on behalf of the SIU.
“The director’s decisions are based solely on the evidence gathered and the applicable legal standard.”
As for Roundsky, at the investigation's outset, investigators met with his family in person, “who identified the community leadership — the band council — as the preferred point of contact moving forward,” SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon wrote.
A virtual meeting was held Jan. 8, when the SIU was asked to communicate its findings with the band council and hold an in-person meeting at a later date, the agency said.
“When initial outreach to the identified community contact did not result in a response, the SIU proceeded to share the director’s decision with the band council by telephone on Feb. 11, 2026, and provided a copy of the director’s report electronically.
“The SIU also reiterated its availability to meet in person and offered additional supports to assist the family and community,” Hudon said. “Of course, we will be reaching out to the Grand Chief to discuss ways [the] notifications process can be improved moving forward.”
A spokesperson for the Attorney General of Ontario also provided an emailed statement to CBC News on Thursday, saying “while the SIU is an independent body, we expect the SIU to carry out its mandate to the highest standards.”
While the ministry cannot provide details on the SIU’s operations or comment on specific matters, it is reviewing Fiddler’s letter, said media spokesperson Alexandra Wilkes.
Hope, optimism ‘waning quickly’
Though Fiddler also questioned whether the SIU's First Nations, Inuit and Métis Liaison Program even exists, Hudon said the program, established in 2006, “is very much active.” She did not say how many Indigenous advisers or Indigenous liaisons are employed, however.
Still, the deaths of Frogg, Nothing and Roundsky have created deep trauma across NAN territory.
“Our teachings tell us to protect life, to care for one another, and to speak with honesty, yet our community now lives with fear and distrust toward policing because those values are not reflected in how our people are treated,” said Wapekeka’s Chief Brennan Sainnawap in NAN’s news release on Wednesday.
“If there is to be any healing or restoration of relationships, it must begin with truth, accountability, and respect for our families, our community, and this generation that has been impacted more deeply than we have ever known.”
As for Fiddler, he said he hopes his letter sends a message to the province about the impact these cases have had on the affected communities.
"The gap between the SIU’s stated goals, and the reality experienced by First Nations families, raises serious concerns about whether the SIU is truly equipped, or willing, to provide culturally competent services to individuals in their most vulnerable moments.," Fiddler said.
“The hope and optimism that we had for this new era of policing is waning quickly, and unless there is accountability for the SIU, it will revert to the era of deep mistrust towards the police, as well as the oversight bodies responsible for monitoring them.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder- ... -9.7097986
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OPP officer cleared in fatal shooting inside Northern Ontario courtroom. SIU questions ‘failure’ to render first-aid
An OPP officer used reasonable force to defend himself and protect others in fatally shooting a 23-year-old man who moved toward a judge with a knife in a northern Ontario courtroom last year, the Special Investigations Unit announced Thursday, declining to lay criminal charges.
“There is no doubt that the lives of the officer and the judge, and the court staff seated with her, were in peril at that moment and that something needed to be done to immediately deter the complainant,” SIU director Joseph Martino wrote.
https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/op ... 72f48.html
“There is no doubt that the lives of the officer and the judge, and the court staff seated with her, were in peril at that moment and that something needed to be done to immediately deter the complainant,” SIU director Joseph Martino wrote.
https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/op ... 72f48.html
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Officer cleared in fatal northern Ontario court shooting, but SIU questions response
Ontario's police watchdog says no criminal charges will be laid against a provincial police officer who fatally shot a man inside a courtroom in a remote part of northern Ontario last year.
But the director of the Special Investigations Unit says there is evidence to suggest the officer "unnecessarily delayed in rendering first aid" to the man, and the matter will be referred to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.
The SIU says the police officer shot the 23-year-old man inside a makeshift courtroom at a youth centre in Wapekeka First Nation on July 31, 2025.
The watchdog says the man advanced toward the officer with a knife when the officer fired his gun to defend himself from a "reasonably apprehended" attack.
Although the SIU concluded that the officer's use of force was justified, director Joseph Martino wrote that his delay in providing first aid after the shooting may be a possible violation of the police code of conduct.
Martino says he will also be raising the matter in his reporting letter to the Ontario Provincial Police commissioner.
The report notes that medical evidence shows the officer's delay in approaching the man after the shooting "did not endanger (his) life or contribute to his death" since it's unlikely that any emergency first aid could have saved him.
The report says the man was told "repeatedly" to stop and drop his knife, and he posed a danger in the courtroom.
"There is no doubt that the lives of the officer and the judge, and the court staff seated with her, were in peril at that moment and that something needed to be done to immediately deter the (man)," it says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
https://www.sootoday.com/ontario-news/o ... e-11872646
https://www.auroratoday.ca/ontario-news ... e-11872646
But the director of the Special Investigations Unit says there is evidence to suggest the officer "unnecessarily delayed in rendering first aid" to the man, and the matter will be referred to the Law Enforcement Complaints Agency.
The SIU says the police officer shot the 23-year-old man inside a makeshift courtroom at a youth centre in Wapekeka First Nation on July 31, 2025.
The watchdog says the man advanced toward the officer with a knife when the officer fired his gun to defend himself from a "reasonably apprehended" attack.
Although the SIU concluded that the officer's use of force was justified, director Joseph Martino wrote that his delay in providing first aid after the shooting may be a possible violation of the police code of conduct.
Martino says he will also be raising the matter in his reporting letter to the Ontario Provincial Police commissioner.
The report notes that medical evidence shows the officer's delay in approaching the man after the shooting "did not endanger (his) life or contribute to his death" since it's unlikely that any emergency first aid could have saved him.
The report says the man was told "repeatedly" to stop and drop his knife, and he posed a danger in the courtroom.
"There is no doubt that the lives of the officer and the judge, and the court staff seated with her, were in peril at that moment and that something needed to be done to immediately deter the (man)," it says.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2026.
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press
https://www.sootoday.com/ontario-news/o ... e-11872646
https://www.auroratoday.ca/ontario-news ... e-11872646
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