Parliament security shaken up
RCMP given oversight of forces on the Hill
• The RCMP is to become the overseer of security on Parliament Hill, with House and Senate security forces reporting to one Mountie.
The shakeup will redraw the security map on the Hill — one that has remained largely untouched for more than a century — by reducing the role of the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms to a largely ceremonial post.
But the change must pass legal and constitutional issues before it becomes a reality.
Currently, the RCMP is in charge of the grounds of Parliament Hill, outside the parliamentary buildings. Separate House and Senate security forces — which are to be merged — have been in charge of securing the inside of the buildings, while the Ottawa police remain in charge of the surrounding streets.
The change will essentially put one person in charge of protecting the Hill, rather than the three representatives — one from the House of Commons, one from the Senate and a third from the RCMP — who have been meeting every morning for years in the Hill’s central command post.
Under the new plan, the soon-to-be-unified security force inside the parliamentary buildings will report to the RCMP officer put in charge of Hill security. It would be left to the RCMP to oversee the details of securing the Hill — after parliamentarians agree to any proposals.
“It is … an opportunity to make sure that those security forces and the policing forces that work together here on Parliament Hill are able to function together, operate together and work as one unit instead of in silos,” said Conservative MP Ryan Leef, a former Mountie.
Implementing the plan will require Parliament to approve legal changes to the act that guides the Mounties. Parliament will also have to allow the Mountie in charge of the Hill to report to the Speakers of the House of Commons and Senate; the RCMP Act currently only allows officers to report up the line to the RCMP commissioner. The Constitution puts the two Speakers in charge of security on Parliament Hill.
“They’ll have to figure out how this person will be accountable to the Speaker,” said a source with knowledge of the changes. “It won’t be easy.”
The new structure comes as parliamentarians try to improve security to prevent a repeat of the attack on Oct. 22.
Have to figure out how will be accountable to the Speaker
It took less than a minute for Michael Zehaf-Bibeau to get inside the Centre Block after killing Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial. Security forces killed Zehaf-Bibeau in a shootout at the end of the Hall of Honour, steps away from a room holding Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Kevin Vickers, the former sergeant-at-arms who is credited with downing Zehaf-Bibeau, was recently named ambassador to Ireland and is no longer in the job.
The attack restarted what had been a stalled process to unify the security forces inside the parliamentary buildings and rework security on the Hill.
Further changes to Hill security are to be agreed upon, or in place, by April. For example, all guards on the Hill are to finish their firearms training by the end of March.
The change will reduce the role of the House of Commons sergeant-at-arms, who will take a more ceremonial role and only be in charge of security inside the Commons chamber itself.
That move will give the sergeant-at-arms a role similar to the Usher of the Black Rod, who is in charge of security inside the Senate chamber and who is the chief protocol officer on Parliament Hill.