During her six years as an MP, Niki Ashton has grown accustomed to loud noises ringing through the stone hallways of the main parliamentary building in Ottawa.
So on Wednesday morning, when Ashton heard what turned out to be a gun shot, she did not initially realize that Parliament Hill was under attack.
“I just heard a loud noise,” Ashton, the New Democrat MP for the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill, said late that afternoon. “Sometimes, [in] some cases I know there are trollies that go by. There’s always some noise that echoes in these halls.”
Take cover
After the second shot reverberated, however, Ashton knew it was a gun – and that she had to take cover. She was vulnerable in the hallway, outside the NDP caucus room she had left moments earlier to take a phone call from her mother.
“I said to my mom on the phone, I said, ‘They’re shooting. Somebody’s shooting in Parliament,’” said Ashton, who ran back into the caucus room. “So my mom heard all of this and in my rush to get back, it turns out I didn’t hang up the phone, so she heard all of that ensue, which obviously is pretty worrying for a family member, that’s for sure.”
Inside the caucus room, Ashton’s colleagues were already lying down in a corner. She joined them before hearing another round of shots.
“The shots were happening right outside the meeting room,” said Ashton, who at no point saw the gunman who had entered the building.
“I didn’t see much panic. People were obviously frightened. A few people said, ‘You need to get down on the floor and by the wall,’ so everybody did that. So there was an eerie calm – no, I wouldn’t say calm – but sort of an eerie silence that took over.”
By now a security guard had bolted into the caucus room and promptly locked the doors. Still, no one knew what exactly was going on in the hallway.
A few terrifying minutes later, Ashton and her colleagues were escorted out of the room, and out of the main parliamentary building, known as Centre Block.
Secure facility
It was not quite 11 am Ottawa time, as far as Ashton recalled, when the MPs arrived at a secure facility elsewhere on Parliament Hill. They were told not to go into detail about their location.
At 6 pm Ottawa time, when The Reminder spoke with her by phone, Ashton remained in the secure facility under orders not to leave.
By now she had had time to process her up-close view of what will go down in history as one of Canada’s darkest days.
“Hearing the shots was surreal,” said Ashton, who at 32 is among Parliament’s youngest members. “Growing up in the North, there’s always hunting going on. Moose hunting season just passed. So I was thinking of being on the road and hearing guys out in the bush go hunting. And then all of a sudden you’re at work – like I said, I was on the phone with my mom and I could hear that the shots were actually getting closer. Obviously, as we know, the shooter went down the hallway closer to where I was standing at that time, and that is really surreal and obviously very scary.”
Media outlets reported there were two shooting incidents in Ottawa on Wednesday morning: one at the Canada War Memorial near the Parliament building and another round of shooting inside Centre Block.
Reports said a man with a rifle shot and killed a Canadian soldier who was standing guard at the Memorial. Two others left injured, including a security guard at Centre Block, were in stable condition, the National Post reported.
It was further reported that House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers shot and killed a gunman inside Centre Block after dozens of shots rang out.
Ottawa police spokesman Chuck Benoit told the media two or three gunmen may have been involved in the attacks.
Clarke ‘okay’
Rob Clarke, MP for the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, was unavailable for an interview.
Georganne Burke , a spokesperson for Clarke, confirmed to The Reminder on Wednesday afternoon that the Conservative MP was “both safe and okay.”
Burke was not sure when Clarke, 47, would be available to the media, adding he may not do interviews on the shooting incident.
Though Ashton sounded composed late Wednesday afternoon, she admitted she was “pretty shaken up,” as were many MPs and staffers.
Liberal MP John McKay reportedly said of the shootings: “This changes everything.” Ashton agreed security changes will come, but she said Parliament should remain an accessible symbol of Canadian democracy.
“We obviously need to consider how these kinds of things can be prevented in the future,” said Ashton. “But ultimately, as far as Parliament is concerned, Parliament belongs to the people. Just yesterday I was hosting people from our constituency here who were just so happy to be able to come in and see the goings-on and be part of what was going on. And we have to make sure that that accessibility, and feeling like Parliament is still a place where Canadians can feel welcome, is still important.
“So the right decisions need to be made in terms of security, but we can’t lose sight of our democratic values and the value that Parliament should hold for all of us.”
With the nation still in shock, one unanswered question following the shooting revolved around when Parliament would resume sitting.
“I think there’s an interest to see us get back for sitting to also to show that we’re here to work and we won’t be deterred,” said Ashton. “But obviously the security measures are going to be looked at and, I suspect, changed quite significantly over the next while. So that might mean us either not being here or rearranging the schedule in some way.”
Ashton said her thoughts are with the family of the slain soldier. She said she is also grateful for the comforting messages she received from friends in Flin Flon and across northern Manitoba.
The killing of the soldier at the Canada War Memorial marked the second attack this week on military personnel in Canada. On Monday, two Canadian soldiers were deliberately struck by a vehicle in Quebec. One of them died in hospital.
The Winnipeg Sun reported that Wednesday’s incidents resulted in beefed up security at the Manitoba legislature. CBC reported the same about the Saskatchewan legislature.
