OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other lawmakers paid their respects to the soldier gunned down in Ottawa on a day of mourning that followed acts of unprecedented violence in Canada’s capital.
A few hundred people joined lawmakers from all parties at the war memorial Thursday to lay flowers before breaking into a spontaneous rendition of the national anthem.
“We will be vigilant, but we will not run scared,” Harper later told his colleagues in the House of Commons as parliament resumed normal operations following a moment of silence for the dead soldier. “We will be prudent, but we will not panic. And as for the business of government, well, here we are, in our seats, in our chamber in the very heart of our democracy.”
In a rare display in the usually combative chamber, Harper walked across the floor and embraced opposition leaders Thomas Mulcair and Justin Trudeau.
“We are opponents, but we are never enemies,” Harper said. “We are all Canadians.”
Police on Wellington Street blocked public access to the football-field sized front grounds of Parliament, where people regularly take part in mass yoga classes and throw frisbees.
Armed members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police guarded the main door to parliament’s Peace Tower, the same entrance Michael Zehaf-Bibeau walked through with a rifle yesterday after he shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the war memorial around the corner.
Canada is reeling in the wake of the attack. Cirillo, 24, from Hamilton, Ontario later died of his injuries. Canadian-born Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, was killed in the Hall of Honour by parliamentary security officials as lawmakers took shelter in adjoining meeting rooms.
“My town is in mourning today,” said Paul Dewar, a lawmaker from Ottawa whose district includes Parliament Hill and who was at Thursday’s vigil. “Today I made sure that I walked to work. I wanted to give an indication of how we respond as Canadians; we’re pretty determined folk.”
Canada’s capital gradually returned to normal. A security perimeter that stretched for dozens of city blocks Wednesday has narrowed to a small area around the prime minister’s office on Wellington St. The country’s legislature, which was locked down Wednesday, was opened to staff Thursday.
Dewar and most staff entered through a gate on the west side of Parliament Hill, now guarded by four RCMP officers in heavy gear and several other parliamentary district guards.
Harper and his wife Laureen laid flowers at about 9 a.m. at the war memorial. Other lawmakers including Trudeau also placed flowers at the triangle-shaped memorial, which remains cordoned off, blocked by about a dozen Ottawa police cruisers. Before the vigil, police were still scouring the area for evidence.
Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau told reporters Thursday the gunman acted alone. “There’s no more threat to public safety,” Bordeleau said.
Responding to a question about when the security perimeter around Parliament Hill will be removed, Ottawa Police Constable Marc Soucy said in a telephone interview “police presence has been increased in that area and we’re just being more vigilant, looking at anything suspicious and dealing with it.”
The attack was one of the worst acts of terrorism in the nation’s history, and was the second killing of a soldier by a radicalized native-born Canadian this week, raising concerns nationwide.
Unity is Canada’s “ultimate weapon,” Harper said in parliament Thursday as he pledged to speed up a review of the nation’s security laws.
“Our laws and police powers need to be strengthened in the area of surveillance, detention, and arrest,” Harper said. “They need to be much strengthened. I assure members that work which is already under way will be expedited.”
Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Tom Lawson, said in a statement last night the army will work with the government to assess security and decide if extra monitoring at Canadian Forces bases is needed.
Zehaf-Bibeau was a Canadian who had converted to Islam, according to a U.S. law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Zehaf-Bibeau was known to authorities and had his passport seized because he was considered a high- risk traveler, according to the Globe and Mail.
Earlier this week, two soldiers were hit by a car in a mall parking lot near Montreal by a native born Canadian who authorities said had become “radicalized.” Martin Rouleau, 25, the suspect in that killing, was also shot dead by police after a car chase.