By Ryan FaheyNews Reporter20:42, 5 Apr 2025 -Updated21:45, 5 Apr 2025
Canada's Parliament building has been shut down as police tell people to avoid the area. The Parliament of Canada's Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) has released an urgent warning, announcing a "lockdown" at 111 Wellington Street, Canada's House of Commons. People in the building and the immediate area have been told to "seek shelter in the nearest room" and "lock all doors and hide".
A huge police presence was seen outside the Parliament Hill building, with squad cars lining the street. But, it's still not currently known was sparked the lockdown.
In the statement, the PPS said: "A LOCKDOWN has been declared at: 111 Wellington - East Block. Seek shelter in the nearest room. Close and lock all doors and hide. If you are not in the immediate area, stay away until further notice. Do not travel to locations under lockdown. Wait for further instructions from first responders".
Ottawa Police shared a statement warning people to avoid the area. Their post on Twitter read: "There is an ongoing police operation on Parliament Hill at the moment. Please avoid the area. There is no further information. Updates to follow."
Canada Parliament on lockdown (Image: @onscenephoto_/X)According to Canada's National Post, a reporter working in the building said he saw "at least a dozen Parliamentary Protective Service and Ottawa Police Service vehicles are surrounding East Block. Access to the Hill is closed even to pass holders.” The reporter added that a bomb squad may be on site.
The Canadian House of Commons (Image: Getty Images)One of the officers was "holding up a rifle to the building main entrance but then backing off."
“[Police have] shut down the stretch of Wellington Street in front of Parliament. They are setting up police tape around the street,” he added.
In 2014, authorities locked down the downtown core of Ottawa when 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau went on a rampage in the political district. After shooting dead Canadian soldier, Corporal Nathan Cirillo, Zehaf-Bibeau went ran inside the parliament buildings where he was fatally shot 31 times by six Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.
LATEST UPDATE:
- Parliament Hill’s East Block is on lockdown Saturday after a man barricaded himself inside, according to Ottawa police.
- “Officers are on scene at Parliament Hill for a barricaded man in the area of East block. There is a large police presence in the area. East block has been evacuated,” Ottawa police said in post on X at 4:50 p.m.
- “There are no known injuries and police continue to deal with an individual in this ongoing incident.”
- An alert from the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) at 2:45 p.m. asked people inside to “seek shelter in the nearest room. Close and lock all doors and hide.”
- The alert asks those not in the immediate area to stay away until further notice and not to travel to places under lockdown.
- Senator Patrick Brazeau posted “stay safe Ottawa” on X after receiving the alert. The East Block holds the offices of senators and their staff.
- Parliament is currently dissolved.
- A large police presence remains in the area with about a dozen Ottawa police and PPS vehicles in the area.
- Road closures remain in place on Wellington Street between Bank Street and Sussex Drive.
- Police are asking the public to avoid the area.
A quick history of attacks and protests on Parliament Hill
https://ottawacitizen.com/
From a hostage taker to climate protests, the Hill has been the scene of high drama, and often violence.
Saturday’s lockdown on Parliament Hill was the latest of many security-related incidents in the parliamentary precinct. Here are seven high-profile cases from the past.
May 1966: Paul Joseph Chartier died when he accidentally detonated dynamite tucked into his coat, which he’d planned to lob into the ranks of “rich and greedy” politicians while in the men’s bathroom outside the House of Commons. Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was handed a note alerting him to the incident a few minutes later, but Question Period continued.
June 1987: A middle-aged man in a Hawaiian shirt walked into the House of Commons, passed MPs, grabbed the Speaker’s golden mace, and shouted: “I protest this treason. This country is under attack from within.” Michael Charette was protesting the Meech Lake Accord.
April 1989: Charles Yacoub, armed and reportedly demanding the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, hijacked a Greyhound bus in Montreal and demanded the driver take him to Ottawa and onto Parliament Hill. Buildings for a three-block radius were evacuated during an eight-hour standoff in which Yacoub fired on a group of American tourists.
February 1997: An Ottawa school janitor who would later be found to be too mentally ill to be responsible for his actions drove a blue Jeep Cherokee up two staircases to just short of the main door of Centre Block.
December 2009: Greenpeace activists weren’t detected as they scaled West Block and rappelled from the roof to unfurl banners protesting Canadian inaction on climate change and the oilsands. Twenty were arrested, and the RCMP boosted its security presence.
October 2014: Lone-wolf attacker Michael Zehaf-Bibeau fatally shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as he guarded the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, then hijacked a ministerial car to drive up to Centre Block, which he entered with an old rifle before being fatally shot.
January-February 2022: Truckers and others protesting vaccine mandates and other government actions laid siege to Wellington Street in front of Parliament Hill for about three weeks, honking horns, erecting a stage and bringing in bouncy castles and hot tubs. Court action is still ongoing.
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