Grieving mother planning peaceful protest at Rockwood OPP station

Faye Dzikewich continues to fight for answers for her 36-year-old son, who died after spending the night in an Ontario Provincial Police cell in Rockwood, Ont.

Nathaniel Schofield was arrested for what OPP called a “minor offence” on July 10. He was then put into a cell at the North Wellington Operations Centre in Teviotdale before being transferred to the South Wellington Operations Centre in Rockwood.

According to the Special Investigations Unit, Schofield was found in medical distress the following morning and taken to a Guelph, Ont. hospital.

He was pronounced dead before noon that same day.

The South Wellington OPP facility in Rockwood Ont. on July 11, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV News)

Dzikewich said she still didn’t know what had happened when she showed up for Schofield’s bail hearing on July 9. She told CTV News she waited hours in court for her son to appear. Then, at 3 p.m., she learned there had been a medical emergency and he had been taken to hospital.

Shortly after, Schofield’s girlfriend called to inform her the father of six had died.

“I fell in the parking lot,” she told CTV News in July. “I couldn’t get up. I was hysterical.”

Nathaniel Schofield in an undated photograph. (Source: Faye Dzikewich)

Dzikewich was also upset that Schofield’s body had been taken to the coroner’s office in Toronto before she was notified of his death and was allowed to see his body.

“I would want him to know that I am doing everything in my power to find out what happened to him,” she explained in July. “I would want him to know that I’m fighting for justice and I won’t stop.”

Rockwood OPP protest

Dzikewich is trying to keep that promise.

This week she announced a peaceful protest at the Rockwood OPP detachment where Schofield spent the night. Supporters are asked to meet up Sunday at 6 p.m. outside 5145 Wellington Road 27, 2006 Main Street.

“There is so much that doesn’t make sense,” Dzikewich wrote in a Facebook post. “NONE OF THIS HAS BEEN OK! I NEED YOUR HELP!”

The Special Investigations Unit continues to investigate Schofield’s death.

- With reporting by CTV’s Spencer Turcotte