Accused in Iqaluit standoff asks to fire his lawyer

The man arrested after a nearly 16-hour standoff with Iqaluit RCMP two months ago says he wants his court case to proceed without a defence lawyer.

Jaco Kownirk, who has been in custody since the Sept. 27 incident, appeared in court by videoconference from the Aaqqigiarvik Correctional Healing Facility Tuesday morning.

Police charged him with multiple counts of several offences including assault with a weapon, uttering threats to cause bodily harm, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, discharging an air rifle at a police officer, and breach of probation.

The standoff started after Iqaluit RCMP responded to a report of shots fired in the early hours of Sept. 27. Police issued a shelter-in-place order emergency alert after 1 a.m. and officers remained on scene until the standoff ended after 4 p.m.

On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Emma Baasch told court the Crown is still working on its disclosure package of evidence it intends to introduce, to provide to the defence.

She said there were a lot of witnesses during the standoff.

Lawyer Alan Regel appeared as agent on behalf of Vukasin Simeunovic, who is Kownirk’s defence lawyer.

As Justice Mark Mossey was setting Kownirk’s next court date, Kownirk told the court he wants to fire his lawyer, expressing frustration with the way his case is going.

“I don’t want to use a lawyer any more,” he said.

Mossey told Kownirk that if he chooses to proceed without a lawyer, there will be a discussion between the Crown and legal aid on how to provide him the disclosure information.

Kownirk’s next court date is Jan. 6.