Today ,October 22,2014 will go down in Canadian history as a day of infamy. It’s a day which would herald the loss of innocence for Canada for sure. Just 2 days ago,through a hit and run maneuver, a Canadian soldier by the name of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was killed in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec by a radicalized Canadian citizen(Martin Couture-Rouleau). Today,at Canada’s national capital(Ottawa) in Ontario, a soldier reservist by the name of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo,a native of Hamilton,Ontario was shot, injured and eventually died from gunshot injuries in-hospital by 1 of apparently 3 gunmen at the National War Memorial where Cpl. Cerillo was working as a sentry.The incident occurred around 9:52 am EST and minutes later, mass shootings occurred at the nearby Parliament Hill building(the seat of Canadian government).
Amidst the scuffle inside Parliament Hill, the Parliament Sergeant-at-Arms(Kevin Vickers, a native of Miramichi,New Brunswick) shot and killed 1 of the gunmen—Michael Zehab-Bibeau,a 32 y/o natural-born Canadian citizen from Quebec who was a recent Muslim convert and with a prior history of drug abuse as well as a recent revocation of his passport because of prior dubious international trips.
As a result, the city of Ottawa was and still placed on lockdown at the present time since a massive manhunt for the other gunmen are still at large.
Sadly, this is the new normal now in this current situation of fighting the war on terror.
In a way, it’s like our own Sept. 11 event.
Killing a soldier who was guarding our own Canadian version of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier speaks only of the horrendous, attempted desecration by the terrorists of our view in honoring the sanctity of the courage and sacrifices of our men and women in uniform.
I say attempted because honor for the soldiers will never die in spite of today’s event.
In the coming hours and days, hopefully, we would all know the details as to why such a horrendous event had happened here in Canada. Also,hopefully, we will learn from this and take the necessary steps/changes to improve Canada’s homeland security system. Let bureaucratic heads roll if necessary.
God help us all!
Josie
josiesvoice 