Canadians facing conundrum over best approach to security
Print Edition
JUST over a week after an armed man charged into Canada’s Parliament and fought a gun battle with guards as lawmakers were meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there are few signs of increased security in the nation’s capital.
Leading politicians and top officials can still be seen in the streets without any obvious protection.
The visible new security measures at the Parliament building have been modest, and some have even been eased in recent days.
After telling lawmakers on Monday about the threat from homegrown extremists, Assistant Director for Intelligence Michael Peirce — one of Canada’s top spies — stepped out of a parliamentary office building and onto an Ottawa sidewalk where he strolled several blocks protected only by his long overcoat and mirrored sunglasses.
There were no bodyguards in sight.
Minutes later, Justin Trudeau, leader of the opposition Liberal Party and son of late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, passed by, also unencumbered by security detail.
There has been much soul-searching in Canada about the nation’s low-key approach to security after two soldiers were killed in separate attacks last week — the Ottawa assault and an earlier one outside Montreal.
Canadians are struggling with the need to protect their leaders without creating such a fortress mentality that the public loses access to them.
“I hope they increase security a little more but I would hate things to get like they are in the US,” said Kim Sass, a 49-year-old medical assistant, as she stopped in Hamilton, Ontario, to write a note of gratitude to Corporal Nathan Cirillo who was shot dead by gunman 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who later charged into Parliament.
“We’re Canada, we’re supposed to be more relaxed,” Sass said. “It’s a balance, I suppose.”
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