Diane Johnston
Speaker Reporter
OTTAWA — In a phone interview at around 2:30 p.m. today from his office on Sparks Street overlooking Parliament Hill, Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus recounted the events of the day.
At about 10 a.m., he said some 100 New Democrats were holding a caucus meeting in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill. The Conservative caucus was meeting across the hallway.
He said they heard gunfire in the hallway.
“When you hear rapid gunfire in an old building like that, with all the echoes, it suddenly makes you realize this is very, very, very real.”
He said they blocked the doors with whatever they could find, turning over chairs and staying low.
“We still don’t know a lot, but it was very tense.”
He said they were escorted from the caucus room as quickly as possible “but it was still very chaotic.”
Judging by the faces of the security personnel, he said, “they knew this was a very, very tense and serious situation, and they did what they had to do to get us out of that building.”
He believes they were trying to reach a tunnel that provided access to another building, but something happened.
He was among a group of a dozen MPs put on the lawn of Parliament Hill.
“There was no one to direct us. We had no idea if there were other gunners. We stayed together and moved off to the side to sort of stay out of the line of whatever trouble might be coming.”
He said they made their way over to another building, where they were let in.
“We’re still pretty much in lockdown, but it seems that things are more stable now.”
He said he’s received messages from friends as far away as England and Tunisia, where someone caught the news on the BBC world service.
“The whole world is sending in messages of support, which is wonderful.”