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Canada's House of Parliament Reopens

Aired October 23, 2014 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Right now, a return to business, but far from a return to normal, lawmakers return to parliament in Canada's capital nearly 24 hours to the minutes since gunshots echoed in these halls.

Leading the procession this morning as custom dictates, the sergeant- at-arms, but today, Kevin Vickers is nothing short of a hero. The retired police officer shot the gunman and ended his rampage.

We're learning more details about that shooter. His name is Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. He was 32 years old. He was born Michael Joseph Hall and sources say he changed his name after converting to Islam.

He had a criminal history mostly for drug convictions. Sources also tell us Canadian authorities seized his passport when they learned he planned to join radical Muslim fighters overseas.

Investigators have not ruled out a connection to a terror group. As I said at any time, Canada's prime minister due to address lawmakers. We'll bring you that live when Stephen Harper begin speaking.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick is in Ottawa. In Edmonton, we have Stewart Bell, a senior writer at "The National Post" where he writes about national security issues. Welcome to both of you.

Deb, I know parliamentarians want to get back to business as usual -- let's watch actually. Let's listen.

All right, as you can hear, he's speaking French, so we can't understand. So let's go to Stewart Bell. As Kevin Vickers walked into the parliamentary chambers, I mean, you could tell Mr. Vickers was trying to control himself. Tears formed in his eyes, what went through your mind.

STEWART BELL, SENIOR WRITER, "THE NATIONAL POST": Well, this is a big moment for Canada. I mean, we've had several attempts since 9/11 to carry out sort of an al Qaeda-style attack in Canada. There were three disrupted just in the last eight years or so targeting parliament and the Canadian forces.

All of them were disrupted. So this was the first successful in terms of causing loss of life terrorist attacks that we've had in recent years anyway.

So it is a moment for Canada, and I think they'll be a great deal of thought put into how to proceed because we in Canada always tended to think of ourselves as kind of apart from the violence that takes place in many parts of the world.

We see ourselves as a haven from all of that. We welcome refugees and immigrants from all over the world to come and live peacefully as Canadians away from those zones of conflict. So to have it come into our country is something new.

COSTELLO: They're singing the Canadian national anthem right now, Stewart. I want you to talk from your heart because this is an amazingly patriotic moment for Canadians.

BELL: It's incredible. Despite the -- it reminds me a little bit of Boston, despite the tragedy of the events. Everyone rallied and it brought out the best in people. We saw in Ottawa yesterday and across Canada, the best of Canadians come through and it's a very proud moment in that sense, even though it was set in motion by very tragic events.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. We're expecting your prime minister to speak at any moment now. When he begins speaking, of course, I'll stop again to allow our audience to listen in.

But in looking at Kevin Vickers' face, he seemed so stoic, but he had tears in his eyes. It's hard to imagine what he's feeling right now.

BELL: I can't imagine. I wasn't there in Ottawa for the event so it's hard to say. This is something that I think a lot of Canadians, some Canadians have been expected for some time in the sense that we've watched attacks occur in other parts of the world.

We are active in parts of the world. In Afghanistan, we have military presence there. We've been quite forthright about our determination to stop is as a nation, to contribute to that anti-ISIS mission.

So we haven't had a major attack since 9/11. I think we've been kind of bracing for it and this week we have begun to see the beginning of that transition where we now realize that we are a country that can be attacked.

COSTELLO: Stewart, let's pause because they're taking a moment of silence for Corporal Cirillo.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The honorable prime minister.

STEPHEN HARPER, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to begin by acknowledging and thanking the leader of the opposition as well as the honorable members for their encouraging words last night.

Mr. Speaker, in our system in our country we are opponents, but we are never enemies. We are all Canadians. We will always stand together.

Mr. Speaker, today more than ever before I am very happy to see all of my colleagues from all parties, in good health across the aisles. Maybe use that, Mr. Speaker, through you to provide a little bit of advice to my colleagues, I think my position in growing number of gray hairs entitles me to do this once in a while, and that is just to say that we all here are engaged in extremely demanding and stressful jobs.

But the stress that many of you faced yesterday was really beyond and above anything that any of us are really expecting to face. I would just say while we resume our duties, and I'll talk about that in a moment.

I would encourage everybody here to take care of their health, be sure that you find some time to relax in the next little while, and also, if any of you -- because we are not all in perfect health, if any of you are suffering any undue physical stress because of what occurred yesterday, please take the time to see a physician and get that checked out.

I also want to say to Canadians. We heard a lot of feedback from Canadians. Yesterday, we are all used to the feedback we get very regularly from Canadians, much of it in the form of brit bats and some of it deserved.

But in this case, Mr. Speaker, I think we all experienced the tremendous outpouring of warmth and affection and good wishes from people across the country and we thank them, all of us.

I also want to convey all the good wishes I heard personally, not just from Canadians, but from those outside the country. I heard from President Obama, Prime Minister Abbott, Prime Minister Netanyahu, through statement from Prime Minister Cameron.

We've heard these expressions across the world. I think we're all as Canadians touched by the wonderful gesture shown last night at the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. So thank you to our friends in United States and around the world.

Of course, Mr. Speaker, we know all too well this is not a happy day for everybody, in particular terribly sad day for all the family, loved ones, friends, colleagues of both Nathan Cirillo and Patrice Vanzon.

(through translator): We have seen photos of those lovely men.

Pictures of these beautiful guys as don cherry would say. Our hearts really are with all of them. We are so fortunate to have people like this.

The past couple of decades, we see across the world increasing places where the planet is descending into savagery, and there are people who every day of their lives stand on guard for this country and for all of us.

And we obviously want to convey our gratitude to these two servicemen and their family, but also to all the people who undertake this extremely dangerous work. Mr. Speaker, I spoke of the state of the world. I think for all of us who are blessed to live in a country like this, it is hard to appreciate, understand, fathom, how we can have people who so despise, are involved in a movement who so want violence, who so despise modernity, who so hate progress.

That they can desire to drive out medical workers from their community, harm them, how they can enslave women, torture children, how they can kill, want to kill anyone who looks or thinks different than them.

It is in a sense, Mr. Speaker, beyond our comprehension, but it is very real. In this struggle in which we are engaged, in which not only our finest values must be pushed to work, so must be and will be the highest unity and resolve, they are our ultimate and indispensable weapons. That's what these people will face.

(through translator): Mr. Speaker, as regards the events of yesterday and in recent days, many questions remain unanswered and during the course of the police investigations we will find answers to these questions.

However, I can tell the House this today, the objective of these attacks was to instill fear and panic in our country and to interrupt the business of government. As I said yesterday, Canadians will not be intimidated.

We will be vigilant, but will not run scared. We will be prudent but not panic. As pour the business of government, here we are in our seats, in our chamber in the very heart of democracy and our work will go on.

(through translator): Mr. Speaker, this House and its diversity personifies Canada's spirit.

-- to terrorism and neither will this House of Commons, we carry on. We will attend to the country's affairs and be faithful to the trust that people have placed in us.

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier and as I have been saying for a long time, we live in a dangerous world, terrorism has been here with us for a while and dangerously close on a number of occasions.

I speak -- for example, I draw members' attention to Toronto '18, the rail conspiracy in 2013, and I can point to a number of others as well as many that most will never know about.

For that reason and with the belief and security that Canada is the government's primary responsibility, we have over the years passed such legislation as the combat in terrorism act and the strengthening Canadian citizenship act to better protect Canadians and secure our institutions.

Last week our government proposed amendments to the legislation under which the Canadian security intelligence service operates. As you know, Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks I have been saying that our laws and police powers need to be strengthened in the area of surveillance, detention and arrest.

They need to be much strengthened, and I assure you, Mr. Speaker, that work which is already under way will be expedited.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, we're all aware and deeply troubled that both of this week's terrorist attacks were carried out by Canadian citizens, by young men born and raised in this peaceful country.

(through translator): I share this concern and wonder what weakness could lead someone to reject a nationality that so many people throughout so many countries want for their children.

That is a question for another day. For now make no mistake. Even as the brave men and women of our armed forces are taking this fight to the terrorists on their own territory, we are equally resolved to fight it here.

We live in dangerous times, yes, but the mission of our country and the work of this parliament goes on and so does the work throughout this city. Let me just say one final word in recognizing all of the heroics of yesterday.

First of all, I know so many, I could certainly speak personally to my staff at 24 sussex, the chefs, Tim and Tina, who were up all night, but I know people who for all of us across the country and here in Ottawa were working day and night to make things as easy as possible.

Officials who were busy at work trying to respond to the situation, first responders and citizens who put themselves in harm's way when this incident began to unfold.

But obviously, Mr. Speaker, and in conclusion, most particularly the men and women of our security services, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Armed Forces, the city of Ottawa police.

And most particularly, of course, Mr. Speaker, I would be very remiss if I did conclude in acknowledging the work of the security forces here on parliament and the great work of our sergeant-at-arms.

COSTELLO: You saw a touching moment when the prime minister went to shake the hand of the sergeant-at-arms, who shot Michael Zehaf-Bibeau and most likely saved so many lives yesterday. Stewart Bell, I just want to get your reaction to that. Do you know about Kevin Vickers? What do you know about him?

BELL: I don't know a lot about him. But he's very well known in Ottawa, very well respected and is now a national hero.

COSTELLO: I just can't get over how stoic he tried to be, but he had tears in his eyes. We saw the hint of a smile. It's just difficult to understand the many emotions that must be going through his mind and his heart this morning.

Deborah Feyerick, I want to talk a little bit about the man who gunned down Corporal Cirillo, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. His mother gave a brief interview to the "Associated Press." I want to read briefly what the "Associated Press" is reporting. She says, she is not crying for her son, she is crying for the victims. She says how can you ever explain something like this? She also added we are sorry, and much of the rest of the interview she just dissolved in tears.

What more do we know about this man and why he decided to commit this terrible crime?

FEYERICK: Well, we don't know why he decided to commit this terrible crime. That's what investigators are looking into today. They are trying to go through all contacts he may have had to find out if this is simply the crazy act of a lone wolf or whether this was part of some larger network.

How did he become radicalized and why did he feel this is the end result? His father is a Quebec businessman. His mother does work as a federal government employee for the Immigration Board. He had a criminal record, drug use back in 2004.

He was charged with a robbery and also uttering threats back in 2011. We understand he was working in Vancouver for a while. He attended a mosque there. That's when he was last seen according to someone quoted today.

But this is a man who, for whatever reason, decided he wanted to go overseas, perhaps to Libya, perhaps, according to authorities, to fight with jihadists there. When he presented himself, authorities said no, and they confiscated his passport.

He was considered a dangerous risk. They confiscated the passport. Carol, we can tell you today in the parliament building, we're outside. You can bet it is a different order of business today.

They're going to be re-evaluating a lot of the measures in place. How do you combat the threat of lone wolf terrorism? What steps need to be taken, for example, reviewing policy? Is confiscating a passport enough?

Does there need to be different kind of surveillance? Does there need to be some sort of legal intervention? All these lone wolfs, those that are on radar, about 90 of them, they can't be charged with a crime if the crime hasn't been committed.

So you go towards intent. I spoke to a number of lawmakers here early this morning to pay their respects to that fallen corporal. All of them are saying these are things that they want to re-evaluate.

They do say, look, Canada has lost some of its innocence. This is new to them and now they're going to have to reconsider should these monuments be open? Should parliament have open security or should there be something more tight or stricter as there is in the United States?

The big question, carol, one lawmaker I spoke to, how did that gunman get from the war memorial here, jump in a car and circle around to the other side of the building? All of that is under investigation, under review because there are so many outstanding questions.

You look at this, Carol, and you and I have talked about this. The thing is, look, for ISIS, this is a win, for any of these terrorists that are out there, this is a win.

Because they're advocating go out, do something crazy, do something insane and it will get this kind of attention. So people are going to be looking at that, too, the response that everyone has to these acts of terror -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm here to say it's not a win. Ultimately it's not. It's just not. Deborah Feyerick, Stewart Bell, thanks to both of you. I'll be right back.

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