Global Research

On October 22, 2015, Canada commemorated the Ottawa shootings. This article was first published in November 2014

“Canada will never be intimidated. In fact, this will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts, and those of our national security agencies, to take all necessary steps to identify and counter threats and keep Canada safe here at home. Just as it will lead us to strengthen our resolve and redouble our efforts to work with our allies around the world and fight against the terrorist organizations who brutalize those in other countries with the hope of bringing their savagery to our shores.” -Prime Minister Stephen Harper, October 22, 2014 [1]

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On the morning of October 22, 2014, a man later identified as Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, approached Corporal Nathan Cirillo while he was carrying out Ceremonial guard duties at Ottawa’s National War Memorial and fatally shot him in the back. Cirillo later succumbed to his injuries. [2] [3]

Zehaf-Bibeau then drove his vehicle the short distance to Parliament Hill, headed out on foot through a gate in the fence surrounding the Parliament Hill precinct, carjacked a parliamentary Minister’s vehicle and headed for the Centre Block Parliament Building. After a brief struggle with a security guard at the entrance in which the guard was shot in the foot, the gunman ran down the hall near where government and opposition members of parliament were holding caucus meetings. [4]

The attacker was eventually brought down by Kevin Vickers, a retired RCMP officer who was working on the hill as Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons. [4]

Zehaf-Bibeau, a convert to Islam, had a history of drug abuse and was considered to be mentally unstable. He was obstructed from obtaining a passport to travel to an Islamic country that shared his beliefs. He had been staying in an Ottawa Mission in the days preceding the attacks. It is unknown how he was able to attain the firearm he used. [5]

In the heightened climate of fear and insecurity that the incident provoked, the Harper government quickly defined Zehaf-Bibeau’s rampage as a terrorist attack and began promoting and expediting the passage of legislation which boosts Canadian security forces’ powers of surveillance, detention and arrest. [6]

This event, insofar as it appears to have enabled heightened police powers at home and increased military aggression abroad (combat mission against ISIL) evokes the US reaction to the 9/11 attacks.

One analyst who has remarked on this similarity is Peter Dale Scott. He is a poet, former Canadian diplomat and English Professor at Berkeley. He is the author of the soon to be released book  The American Deep State: Wall Street, Big Oil and the Attack on U.S. Democracy.

He has long written about what he calls “Deep Politics” and has argued that at the root of all modern states there is a tendency toward suppressive authoritarian power that competes with democratic persuasion from the masses. Deep events such as 9/11 and the Kennedy Assassination have the impact of reinforcing those dark secret forces within the corridors of power which are now well advanced in the U.S.

In this week’s program Professor Scott takes listeners through the history and purpose of deep events, the contraction of democratic impulses that results, his view that the recent Ottawa Shooting may constitute such a deep event and the role of military and security harmonization between Canada and the United States and how that connects with what he calls the Continuity of Government.

For more on Peter Dale Scott’s writings and how to obtain a copy of his latest book, go to www.peterdalescott.net

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Notes:

1) Stephen Harper’s speech on the Ottawa shooting, full text;  National Post Wire Services | October 22, 2014; http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/22/stephen-harpers-speech-on-the-ottawa-shooting-full-text/

2) Josh Visser (October 23, 2014); National Post; RCMP release security footage of Michael Zehaf Bibeau during attack, say he shot soldier in back; http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/23/rcmp-release-security-footage-of-michael-zahef-bibeau-during-attack-say-he-shot-soldier-in-back/

3) The Toronto Star (October 22, 2014); Soldier dead after shooting at War Memorial in Ottawa, police confirm; http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/10/22/hamilton_soldier_dead_after_shooting_at_war_memorial_in_ottawa.html

4)Glen McGregor; David Reevely; Dean Tweed; Dennis Leung. “Terror in the Capital”. Ottawa Citizen ; https://postmediaottawacitizen2.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/1023shootingupdate-gr.jpg

5) Andrew Seymour and Greg McGregor (October 23, 2014); Ottawa Citizen; “Shooter Zehaf-Bibeau was staying at Ottawa Mission before Rampage: Witnesses”; http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/shooter-zehaf-bibeau-was-staying-at-ottawa-mission-before-rampage-witnesses

6) Bill Curry and Kathryn Blaze Carlson (October 23, 2014) Globe and Mail; Harper vows to strengthen national security laws after Ottawa shooting; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/mps-return-to-house-in-emotional-gathering-after-ottawa-shooting/article21263777/