OTTAWA—Canada’s federal government was poised Thursday to introduce legislation to give the country’s police and intelligence services greater powers to counter potential terrorist threats.
The move, which had been planned, took on special significance as lawmakers and public servants here tried to resume their daily routine, a day after Ottawa was rocked by a shooting that left a soldier and the suspected shooter dead, and forced a lockdown of the Canadian capital for hours.
Canadian police confirmed there was only one shooter, but they didn’t identify him. The alleged gunman, who was killed inside the country’s parliament building Wednesday after killing the soldier at a nearby war monument, was identified by U.S. authorities as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau
Officials didn’t offer a motive for the crime, which Prime MinisterStephen Harper called a terrorist act in a televised address to Canadians late Wednesday. The victim was identified as Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.
The mother of the alleged shooter, Susan Bibeau, told the Associated Press that she was crying for the victims of the shooting, not her son. In a brief telephone call Thursday, Ms. Bibeau said she didn’t know what to say to those hurt in the attack.
“Can you ever explain something like this?” she said. “We are sorry.”
Late Wednesday, Canada’s parliamentary speaker, Andrew Scheer, said lawmakers would return to work Thursday to send a “clear message of Canada’s resolve to maintain its free and democratic way of life.” Public servants were also told they could return to work. Ottawa police Wednesday night lifted a security perimeter that had encircled much of the downtown core as part of the investigation.
An Ottawa police spokesman said Thursday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada’s national police force, had assumed control of the investigation. An RCMP spokeswoman said the force would provide an update on the investigation sometime Thursday.
Parliamentary documents indicated that one of the first pieces of legislation the government would consider Thursday was one that would provide extra powers, in particular, to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency. The additional powers would make it easier for security officials to monitor individuals suspected of being radicalized. The proposed legislation would also help officials prevent their return to Canada from conflict regions and combat any threat posed by the Islamic State militant group.
The Canadian government first indicated in October its intention to introduce the new powers. Last year, the government passed legislation that makes it a crime to leave or attempt to leave the country to engage in terrorist activity.
Experts have described Wednesday’s attack as a major failure in security, in which as many as 30 shots were fired within Parliament’s main building, and one that could starkly alter the way that Canada deals with such threats.
The shooting occurred as Canada was already on heightened alert after two soldiers were run over on Monday in the province of Quebec by a Canadian man whom authorities were investigating for terror links. One of the soldiers was killed in the hit-and-run; the assailant was shot and killed after a police chase.
“We should have been prepared. This rightly should be considered a monumental failure of security,” Mubin Shaikh, a former undercover operative for the RCMP and CSIS, said Wednesday
General Tom Lawson, chief of Canada’s defense staff, said late Wednesday his staff plans to evaluate “the need for additional security measures at Canadian Armed Forces installations within the [Ottawa region] and elsewhere in Canada.”.
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