Alma native in lockdown during shooting

As the entire country followed the unfolding drama of the shootings on Parliament Hill on Oct. 22, a Mapleton native was under lockdown in Centre Block along with parliamentarians and others at the centre of events.

Brenda Trask, who grew near Alma on the farm of her parents Morley and Thelma Trask, has been living in the capital region since 1991.

As communications manager for SeCan, an Ottawa-based agricultural firm, she was part of a group of about 20 employees touring the parliament buildings when Corporal Nathan Cirillo was shot by a gunman who was later gunned down in the halls of Centre Block.

The group had just been met by MP Bev Shipley and was about to head down the hall of honour enroute to the peace tower, when Trask asked a question that caused Shipley to diverge the group into the nearby Conservative Lounge  for an explanation.

“We were in there maybe two to three minutes. … and then we heard the shots and we were on the floor. That’s how close it was. That’s how scary it was,” Trask told the Advertiser, in a telephone interview on Oct. 27.

The 20 SeCan employees, plus Shipley and a guard, were locked down in the Conservative Lounge from just before 10am until around 9pm, when they were removed to another area of the building. They were finally allowed to leave at about 10pm. While water was available, it wasn’t until about 6pm that security staff were able to bring food to the visitors.

“It was just at the beginning for me that I was sort of terrified for the group. Because we didn’t know how many shooters there were. We didn’t know what was going on. And that’s what’s scary when you don’t know what’s going on,” said Trask.

Shortly after the incident began, group members were able to use their cell phones to get media updates on the situation, and staff members later turned on the television sets in the lounge to allow them to follow the situation. With reports suggesting a second shooter was on the loose as well as other incidents around the city, much of the downtown area was in lockdown for part of the day, although few as long as those in Centre Block.

“I think the reason we were in lockdown for so long – is because some of the other buildings were let out mid-afternoon – we were so close to the crime scene, to the scene of the shooting,” Trask suggested.

Given some time to reflect, Trask said she feels the incident brought Canadians closer together. “We came together as a country,” she said, adding, “Every Canadian felt this in some way.”

In addition to being at the centre of the action, Trask said she felt an additional connection having seen Cirillo on duty during walks downtown on Monday and Tuesday. Also on Monday, the SeCan group had toured the Ottawa Mission where shooter Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had been living for a couple of weeks prior to the shooting. Zehaf-Bibeau may even have been there when Trask and her daughter volunteered to help serve Thanksgiving meals at the mission.

“We fed a lot of people that day and he might have been one of them,” she said.

Trask hopes measures taken to prevent future incidents won’t overly-hamper access to Parliament.

“I know there have to be some changes to security on Parliament, but I hope that they are able to keep it open to us as Canadians,” she said. “That’s part of our democracy.”

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