Parliament Hill Shootings
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News in Review – December 2014 – Teacher Resource Guide PARLIAMENT HILL SHOOTINGS Note to teachers The classroom must promote a safe place for students to discuss sensitive issues such as violence and death. Prepare students for the topics that will be discussed. Allow for individual reflective time in addition to small group activities where students can safely process their thoughts and emotions. SETTING THE STAGE Over the course of two days in October 2014, Canadians wondered if our nation had become a new battleground for terrorists. In two separate incidents, what many are calling “lone-wolf attackers” took the lives of members of the Canadian Forces, prompting authorities to warn soldiers not to wear their uniforms in public. It was a dizzying few days. First, Then, on October 22, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau on October 20, Martin Couture-Rouleau steered parked his car by the National War Memorial in his car toward two Canadian Forces soldiers and Ottawa and fatally shot an unarmed soldier. He ran them down, killing Warrant Officer Patrice then drove to Parliament Hill, carjacked a Vincent and injuring the second soldier. limousine and stormed in through the main door Couture-Rouleau waited in his parked car for of the Parliament building. A frantic firefight two hours before choosing his target. The followed with House of Commons Sergeant-at- incident happened in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a Arms Kevin Vickers eventually delivering the community 40 kilometres southeast of Montreal. shot that subdued the gunman. Couture-Rouleau was later spotted by police and, after a brief car chase, he was shot dead Investigators soon learned that Zehaf-Bibeau during an altercation with pursuing officers. was also a convert to Islam and vocally supported ISIS and other militant groups. While Couture-Rouleau had converted to Islam a year he didn’t have his passport seized, he was before the incident and openly espoused radical having a great deal of difficulty getting his views that supported the efforts of ISIS and passport renewed so he could make a trip to other hostile groups. He was considered so Libya. Zehaf-Bibeau felt that officials were radical that he was listed by the RCMP among stonewalling his efforts to secure a passport, 90 Canadians who posed a serious internal threat delaying the process at every turn. to Canada’s national security. Not long before the attack, the RCMP had seized his passport — Both incidents sent Canadians into shock. Was an incident that may have been a catalyst for his Canada becoming a hub for lone-wolf terrorist actions. attacks? Was Canada’s Parliament safe? Were News in Review ∙ CBC Learning ∙ newsinreview.cbclearning.ca 24 DECEMBER 2014 – JUSTIN BOURQUE'S VIOLENT RAGE Canadians being punished for choosing to enter To consider the fray against ISIS? How many more deranged militants would place a target on the backs of 1. In the days following the attack in Ottawa, Canadian Forces personnel? NDP leader Thomas Mulcair labelled the actions of Zehaf-Bibeau “criminal” but not Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the the work of a terrorist. He claimed, “When nation in the aftermath of the attacks and said, you look at the history of the individual “This is a grim reminder that Canada is not involved, you see a criminal act, of course. immune to the types of terrorist attacks we have But...I think that we’re not in the presence of seen elsewhere around the world. Canada will a terrorist act in the sense that we would never be intimidated.” NDP Leader Thomas understand it.” Mulcair said that the attacks on Canada’s institutions “only succeeded in drawing us What do you think? Were the actions of closer, in making us stronger.” And Liberal Couture-Rouleau and Zehaf-Bibeau acts of leader Justin Trudeau encouraged Canadians to terrorism or were they the work of madmen? refuse to surrender to terrorist inspired fear, saying, “They mean to shake us. We will remain 2. Justin Trudeau reached out to Muslim resolved.” Canadians in the aftermath of the attacks, saying, “And to our friends and fellow The next day, members of parliament returned to citizens in the Muslim community, the House of Commons. Kevin Vickers entered Canadians know acts such as these to a standing ovation, a gesture that clearly committed in the name of Islam are an moved the sergeant-at-arms. Before the session aberration of your faith. Continued mutual began, Prime Minister Harper crossed the floor cooperation and respect will help prevent the of the House and greeted opposition leaders with influence of distorted ideological an embrace. This meeting of parliamentarians, propaganda posing as religion. We will walk the day after an attack on some of Canada’s forward together, not apart.” most prized institutions, demonstrated an unprecedented show of solidarity — a solidarity In the wake of the attacks, how important do that may prove invaluable if more lone-wolf you think this message is for Canadians — terrorist attacks are on the horizon. both Muslim and non-Muslim alike? News in Review ∙ CBC Learning ∙ newsinreview.cbclearning.ca 25 DECEMBER 2014 – PARLIAMENT HILL SHOOTINGS VIDEO REVIEW Pre‐viewing On October 8, 2014, the leaders of the RCMP and CSIS told a House of Commons committee that 130 people have left Canada to join terrorist groups and another 80 have returned to Canada after terrorist ventures. They also said that over 90 individuals are being investigated for potential threats to Canada’s national security. 1. How safe do you feel knowing this information? 2. What should Canadian authorities do to protect the nation from terrorist attacks? While viewing 1. What chaotic and frightening attack took place on October 22, 2014? 2. How did Prime Minister Stephen Harper respond to the attack? 3. Who did the gunman go after first? 4. Why were people already on edge the day the gunman attacked in Ottawa? 5. a) Where did Michael Zehaf-Bibeau first attack? b) Where did he attack second? News in Review ∙ CBC Learning ∙ newsinreview.cbclearning.ca 26 DECEMBER 2014 – PARLIAMENT HILL SHOOTINGS 6. How much time elapsed between the first shot and the last shot in the House of Commons? 7. Who was meeting in the caucus room along the Hall of Honour when Michael Zehaf-Bibeau attacked? 8. What common themes did the political party leaders share when it came to the events that day in Ottawa? 9. Was Michael Zehaf-Bibeau’s attack a terrorist action in your opinion? Why or why not? 10. What did the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre do to alert Canadians that a threat may have been on the horizon? 11. What was the saddest thing Rex Murphy saw the day of the attack in Ottawa? 12. Who did Rex Murphy identify as a hero? 13. a) How is the Harper government trying to help CSIS deal with terrorist threats? b) Why are opposition critics concerned about this legislation? 14. What evidence was there that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau held radical views? News in Review ∙ CBC Learning ∙ newsinreview.cbclearning.ca 27 DECEMBER 2014 – PARLIAMENT HILL SHOOTINGS 15. Besides his radical views, what other personal problem served to cloud Zehaf-Bibeau’s judgment? 16. What role did Zehaf-Bibeau’s failure to obtain a passport play in the attack in Ottawa? 17. According to Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Day, how would an armed, uniformed presence have helped at the National War Memorial? 18. What did Steve Day think of the job done by officers inside the Parliament building that day? 19. a) What does Steve Day think needs to be done to improve security on Parliament Hill? b) What changes were made to improve security on Parliament Hill? Post‐viewing This News in Review story features an editorial delivered by Rex Murphy on The National. Murphy says the following in his Point of View piece: The murder of fine, fit, friendly and unarmed Corporal Nathan Cirillo was not a thoughtless act. “Instead, it was soaked in callousness and contempt. The slaughter was meant to burn beyond the deed itself, to speak fundamental insult to the very ideas of honour, sacrifice and solidarity, which are our military's credo and our country's ideals. The killer was a hateful brute. Let us not name him. But today was not the damn killer's. It produced a master counterexample: the Sergeant‐at‐Arms, Mr. Kevin Vickers. Mr. Vickers, the whole country is unanimous: on all the matters that count —bravery, duty, selflessness — you are as good as they get. The office of sergeant‐at‐arms can never have been better filled. ” News in Review ∙ CBC Learning ∙ newsinreview.cbclearning.ca 28 DECEMBER 2014 – PARLIAMENT HILL SHOOTINGS Post‐viewing, continued… 1. Why does Murphy refuse to name the killer? 2. Why does Murphy think that Vickers is a hero? 3. List the virtues that Murphy highlights in his opinion piece. Do you agree with Murphy’s view when he says, “The slaughter was meant to burn beyond the deed itself, to speak fundamental insult to the very ideas of honour, sacrifice and solidarity, which are our military's credo and our country's ideals”? b) Did the killer succeed in destabilizing the fundamental ideals and beliefs held by Canadians? How would you determine this? News in Review ∙ CBC Learning ∙ newsinreview.cbclearning.ca 29 DECEMBER 2014 – PARLIAMENT HILL SHOOTINGS TERROR IN OTTAWA Terrifying, frantic and tragic The whole affair took all of five minutes. Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a self- radicalized gunman who staged an attack on Ottawa, murdered a Canadian soldier before storming Parliament. The incident was terrifying, frantic, and most of all, tragic. Prelude to an attack War Memorial, noting the honour guards who Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, a petty criminal with a stood attentively behind the Tomb of the longtime drug problem, had grown to hate Unknown Soldier.