OTTAWA – The federal government is considering plans to turn Canada’s Parliament Hill into a high-tech security zone, Canwest News Service has learned.
Public Works and Government Services Canada has recently issued a call for expressions of interest from the private sector in the installation of an “integrated security system” that would include 3,000 video cameras, 1,500 “panic” buttons, 3,000 alarm sensors and motion detectors, as well as new biometric identifying tools and more.
While Public Works would not say where that security gear would be installed, it is understood that the government is considering installing such a system to watch over the Centre Block, with its iconic Peace Tower, and the other Parliament buildings that make up what is known as the Parliamentary Precinct.
But while a call for bids has been issued, no final approvals for any installation have been made and decision makers could opt not to proceed at all with the project. The bid may have been one way for federal agencies to test the ability of the private sector to install such a massive security system – and for the government to get a sense of what it might cost.
In any event, the idea of using new high-tech systems is a response by some government agencies to a perceived need to beef up Parliament Hill security without breaking the bank.
On Tuesday, the RCMP said it would take submachine guns it has had in storage for several years and make those available as secondary or backup weapons for Mounties assigned to patrol Parliament Hill, embassies and other assignments in which the RCMP provide protective policing.
That submachine-gun is the Heckler & Koch MP5, a weapon widely used by law enforcement agencies and military special forces. RCMP officers on Parliament Hill had that weapon available more than a decade ago, before the decision was made that Mounties on the Hill should rely only on their 9-mm sidearms.
The MP5 will not be made available to the RCMP’s protective policing unit until after training efforts begin and storage issues are dealt with this June, Staff Sgt. Marc Richer said Tuesday.
“You’re not going to see our members with these MP5s slung over their shoulders,” he said. “You’re still going to see them, as they are today, with their service pistols on their duty belts.”
The RCMP’s protective policing unit oversees security not only on Parliament Hill, but also at embassies and consulates nationwide.
Richer said studies have shown that the MP5s “are safer and more accurate in responding to active shooters. They’re also safer than a shotgun.”
In addition to the submachine guns, which most likely will remain in the police cruisers parked on Parliament Hill, a special Emergency Response Team of RCMP officers is also stationed nearby.
The decision to reuse those weapons, and to explore technological alternatives to costlier police personnel, together fit in line with another policy imperative that the RCMP and all government departments now face: holding the line on operational spending. Most government departments have been told that, in order to fight the deficit, operating budgets cannot increase much beyond where they are right now.
The RCMP, though, has had to cope with steep overtime bills for extra officers being used to patrol Parliament Hill ever since Greenpeace activists scaled the roofs of some Parliament buildings last December and unfurled banners criticizing the Harper government’s record on climate change.
The process that led to reinstituting the MP5s began in early 2009, Richer said, adding that he could not comment on whether those machinations may have been expedited after Greenpeace’s December protest.
The RCMP clearly were concerned not just about the breach, but the optics of the situation, according to briefing notes prepared by the Privy Council Office and the RCMP after the incident. Heavily censored versions of those notes were obtained by Canwest News Service using access-to-information laws.
Under the subject line “Strategic Considerations,” the notes say: “Greenpeace’s ability to access restricted areas of the parliamentary buildings has raised concerns and caused significant media attention regarding the level of security on Parliament Hill. Beyond our continued security efforts and immediate enhancements, it will be critical to ensure that the joint efforts of the parliamentary security partners and our ability to protect this symbolic site are aptly established.”
The RCMP file, which also makes a pitch for more resources for the Parliament Hill detachment, hints at frustration over funding. “As you will note while perusing this document, the findings and proposed approaches found in this report have been the subject of numerous discussions for several years and particularly since the security breach of 2009-12-07 (the Greenpeace demonstration).”
While there is a general accord among all political parties on the need for tighter security on the Hill, there is also cross-party agreement that new security measures should not awe visitors.
“The balance has to be that this is a people’s place,” said Paul Dewar, an NDP MP whose riding includes the Parliamentary Precinct.
“Parliamentarians want Canadians to have access to their own buildings,” said Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, who has been involved with defence and security issues for more than a decade.
– with files from Jack Branswell, Tobi Cohen, Kristy Nease and the Ottawa Citizen
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