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Canada mourns death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo

Nov 4, 2014 | Newpathway, News, Featured

By Oleh Naumenko, Ottawa

Wednesday, October 22, was the day that has shaken Canada and the whole world. The calm atmosphere on Parliament Hill in Ottawa abruptly changed when a person, later identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, shot Corporal Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial. Events that unfolded after the fatal shot plunged the entire capital into an atmosphere of fear. The shooter got to the Parliament Hill, entered Centre Block and opened fire, wounding one person on his way to the parliamentary library. In a tense moment of fire exchange with the police, Zehaf-Bibeau was taken down by Sergeant in Arms Kevin Vickers. Interns of the Canada-Ukraine Program were at the parliament grounds together with MPs and staffers who locked and barricaded themselves in their offices while the shooter was in the building. The event comes shortly after Canada’s government decision to provide military assistance to fight ISIS in the Middle East, which raises questions whether the shooter was a sympathiser of this extremist group.

I heard loud noises at around 10:30 am but did not pay serious attention to this. There were construction works near Parliament Hill that involved controlled explosions – I thought it was just one of these. But minutes later I received a text message from my fellow intern, Anastasia Melnyk, “somebody opened fire at the War Memorial.” I rushed to a different office that overlooks Parliament Hill. Police officers with assault rifles ran toward the Parliament’s Centre Block – one of them helped a woman who was running away from the building to safety. With the publication of the security footage several days later, we realised that we narrowly escaped the fate of the people in Centre Block, as the shooter passed East Block right after he shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the War Memorial.

The shootings continued in Centre Block. Social networks of the staffers and Ukrainian interns were full of messages like “There was around 30 shots fired already. The police is hunting the attacker and asks everyone to close all doors and stay away from windows.” Anna Melenchuk, a Ukrainian intern who works in Centre Block, shared her experiences. “I was in the room on the same floor where the gunfire started. Our staffers were quick to close the doors and take cover. I followed their advice and was confident that everything will be fine, however, it was really scary to hear these shots. Nobody could imagine that a violent attack like this could happen in such a peaceful country as Canada in broad daylight. ” The potential ramifications of the attack could be even more dramatic, as the attacker threatened to get to the room in which members of the government and Conservative MPs assembled for the caucus meeting. Fortunately, thanks to the combined professional efforts of the law-enforcement and decisive actions of Sergeant at Arms Kevin Vickers, the attacker was stopped and everyone could sign with relief.

Mike Wallace, Conservative MP for Burlington, Ontario, was one of those present at the party caucus. “I sat right in front of the doors when we heard the shots. As many others, I first thought it was a noise from construction work. But when more shots were fired, somebody shouted to hit the floor. Security officers came inside the room and we barricaded the doors”. When Mr. Wallace is asked if the shooter knew that Prime Minister Harper and members of the cabinet were in one place, he shakes his head. “I do not think that he knew where he was going, although I cannot get into his head.”
While the Prime Minister was evacuated once Zehaf-Bibeau was down, other parliamentarians stayed in the caucus room until 8 pm. “It was the safest place in the building as there are no windows and a limited number of entrances. At 8 pm, we were asked to board buses that drove us to a secure location.”

As a representative of Burlington – a sister-city of Hamilton from which the deceased Cpl. Cirillo is from – Mr. Wallace attended the funeral ceremony together with Prime Minister Harper and 30 other MPs from all parties on October 28. “There were family, friends and members of Nathan’s regiments with us in the cathedral. Moreover, thousands of people lined up outside the church to pay their tribute to this brave soldier. The War Memorial where Cpl. Cirillo was shot carries a deep meaning commemorating all Canadian soldiers who perished in wars. The shooter’s act was of extreme cowardice – he attacked an unarmed soldier and shot him in the back. I am confident that the memory about Cpl. Nathan Cirillo will forever stay in our hearts.”

The actions of the parliament’s security services and the police deserve the highest praise – the officers ensured that nobody was in danger. The police searched every office in case any other suspect was on the loose. Despite tense atmosphere, the policemen were extremely polite, knocking at every door and asking to stay calm until they finished their search operation. While Prime Minister Harper and leaders of the opposition, Thomas Mulcair of the NDP and Liberal Justin Trudeau, were escorted to safety during the day, most of the staffers at Centre and East Blocks could leave only by 10 pm. After several hours in a safe room from which we could follow the news about what was happening outside, we were finally told to board buses after an interview that may help the investigation.

CUPP interns feel the pain of millions of Canadians who suddenly realised that even a tranquil city as Ottawa can become an epicentre of, in the words of PM Harper, “a terrorist attack”. Ukrainian interns paid their tribute to the deceased Cpl. Nathan Cirillo together with the Ambassador of Ukraine Vadym Prystayko at the site next to the War Memorial. As citizens of Ukraine a country struggling to preserve its integrity against a brutal and unexpected attack, we share Canadians’ grief. We are confident that this attack will only strengthen the whole of society and its resolve to maintain peaceful and democratic order.

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