‘Ineffective communication’ day of Hill shooting
On the day of the Parliament Hill shooting, the federal Government Operations Centre did not have computer technicians on site, food was limited and senior emergency officials weren’t in the building.
Those are some details in newly released documents on the government’s emergency response. Public Safety Canada officials convened meetings soon after the Oct. 22 attack by gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, to see what they could learn.
The operations centre helps coordinate the emergency response for the entire federal government.
Senior executives who were part of the emergency response plan weren’t in the centre the day of the shooting, which “created inefficient and ineffective communication with the decision-makers,” a preliminary observation report said.
Some responsible for business continuity and emergency plans in the Public Safety Canada building went to the operations centre, leaving a leadership vacuum.
The heavily redacted documents were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.
A key finding was that technical help wasn’t available in the centre.
“The support was not available to the GOC. … it was apparent that on-site support would have been useful to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the response.”
Some employees in the lockeddown building that houses the centre found themselves without food.
“Comments received indicated the food supply to sustain the GOC operational needs should be addressed,” the report said.
Another problem was that government employees were variously told to go into “lockdown” or “shelter-in-place.” Shelter-inplace is for when there is a hazardous chemical in the air outside.
Minutes from a November meeting with various government departments indicated that the Treasury Board Secretariat was “looking at medical issues in the event of lock-down or shelter-inplace,” but that “employees need to take some responsibility to have sufficient meds for such events.”
Public Safety Canada did not immediately respond Monday to questions about the findings.
Officials also identified things they believe went right on Oct. 22, including the fact employees helped each other by sharing food and “employees were informed as soon as information became available.”
The commissioner of official languages said last month in a preliminary report that the operations centre should have been putting out information in both French and English during the incident.
City police last week released details of an internal review into the actions of their officers on Oct. 22. The report, not yet complete, identified three areas of concern for local officers. “There were some interoperability issues with the RCMP and our radio systems. The new radio system that we’re purchasing will deal with that stuff,” Chief Charles Bordeleau said prior to Monday’s police board meeting. “We also had an issue with our tactical unit inside the Parliament Buildings in darkness so we’ve upgraded their night vision goggles.”
Bordeleau said there were also issues with officers self-deploying on the morning of the shooting, which created confusion among police and the public. “We’ve put things into practice, into place so that they don’t repeat themselves.”
Bordeleau brushed off the suggestion that local and national police had additional jurisdictional challenges that morning. Ottawa police began what they believed to be a homicide investigation in the early stages of the day.
“As the day went on, there was more information that was coming in. We were working side by side with the RCMP, and at the point where it was determined that it was national security, then there was a handover transition that was done.”
Ottawa police supported RCMP at the war memorial and inside Parliament Buildings, Bordeleau said.
In another shooting-related development on Monday, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson told a Senate committee the remaining 18 seconds of the video Zehaf-Bibeau recorded before his rampage will be released this week or next.