Time to increase security at Toronto's Armories?

[kEiThZ]

That'd be somewhere between a primary school and a ymca. Nothing special, and nothing to stop a guy with a gun. If the BDF has been activated there could be an armed guard but only at major installations like Denison.

ASF can be deployed anywhere. Depends on Force Protection Levels. But common sense should prevail. Denison is a far larger target. Ditto for most federal buildings in Toronto. Think about recruiting centres if one wants to target military personnel. Recall that the Toronto 18 wanted to target the CSIS office in Toronto.

 

[Admiral Beez]

A rare moment where I agree with nfitz.

No need for hysteria.

Rest assured that in light of recent events, authorities will be more alert than usual at election time.

Agreed. Besides, even if hysteria took hold, with 44 wards, each with >30 polling stations, I don't think we have enough TPS to guard them all for the full day.

 

[mdparker]

I'll post here... Time to really consider what's gonna happen over the next 10+ years... Sorry to bring up stuff in the Rob Ford thread, but today was an awful day for our country... I'll hope that today was an anomoly and we take what's coming seriously...

 

[Greg Banks]

My experience is dated (as usual) nevertheless in years long past I spent a fair bit of time at the Fort York Armoury, IIRC there was only one door for entrance and exit and it was under guard when the various Regiments were not doing exercises, parades or social gatherings.... identification and a sign in process was required to enter...I think I'd be safe in saying the security is no less stringent today as it was in the mid '60's

 

[gabe]

Turns out the Ottawa shooter was an Islamic radical. Admitting that current terrorists are more likely to be motivated by Islam than by any other faith (or lack thereof) does not constitute racism, it constitutes demonstrable, factual statistics.

 

[animatronic]

Turns out the Ottawa shooter was an Islamic radical. Admitting that current terrorists are more likely to be motivated by Islam than by any other faith (or lack thereof) does not constitute racism, it constitutes demonstrable, factual statistics.

The shooter was almost certainly a mentally ill person who justified his actions on a radical ideology. The first point is far more predictive and relevant than the second.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Any further postings on the Israeli issue (pro and con) will be deleted.

MoD

 

[kEiThZ]

I'll post here... Time to really consider what's gonna happen over the next 10+ years... Sorry to bring up stuff in the Rob Ford thread, but today was an awful day for our country... I'll hope that today was an anomoly and we take what's coming seriously...

Relax. I'm in the military and I don't worry this much about terrorism. We aren't the UK and this isn't the IRA. We may have more attacks. In fact, I'd even venture to say it's a certainty. But as long as law enforcement and other first responders respond the same way, we'll be relatively safe. If the situation escalates, we do have military forces and special forces ready to respond. Yesterday, did see special forces deployed and fighter jets repositioned to acquire positive control of the airspace above Ottawa if necessary.

Can't prevent lone wolves. But hopefully, we'll never have it escalate to a Mumbai type of scenario. Especially if one happens in Toronto.

Turns out the Ottawa shooter was an Islamic radical. Admitting that current terrorists are more likely to be motivated by Islam than by any other faith (or lack thereof) does not constitute racism, it constitutes demonstrable, factual statistics.

This type of profiling does not work. We have to worry about Tim McVeigh just as much as we do about Zehaf-Bibeau. Both threats are equally dangerous. Profiling results in agency potentially ignoring other threats. And while both these individuals were known to authorities, on the street, it would have been hard to profile either one of them. White, French Canadian, young men, with beards. There's a lot more than Muslims who look like that in Quebec and the Ottawa Valley.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

This type of profiling does not work. We have to worry about Tim McVeigh just as much as we do about Zehaf-Bibeau. Both threats are equally dangerous. Profiling results in agency potentially ignoring other threats. And while both these individuals were known to authorities, on the street, it would have been hard to profile either one of them. White, French Canadian, young men, with beards. There's a lot more than Muslims who look like that in Quebec and the Ottawa Valley.

Indeed - it reads more like a bunch of disaffected young men who latched onto a cause-du-jour and decide to went out in a blaze of "glory". I mean, the guy was even told to quit attending prayer sessions. And let's not forget the various instances where the RCMP was deliberately targeted (Moncton, Mayerthorpe)

AoD

 

[Tewder]

Relax. I'm in the military and I don't worry this much about terrorism. We aren't the UK and this isn't the IRA. We may have more attacks. In fact, I'd even venture to say it's a certainty. But as long as law enforcement and other first responders respond the same way, we'll be relatively safe.

I appreciate your calm-headedness Keithz!! I have no question regarding the capabilities of our protective services but I do worry about the implications of a protracted period of loan-wolf incidents, or worse. People are human and irrational, overreactions happen. A perceived lack of confidence in public safety would quickly undermine the free and open society we have established and could have devastating impact, economic and otherwise. Not to sound alarms here but only to understand that the concerns are not trivial. We saw a glimpse in Canada this week of realities that people deal with daily in other places. I do agree we will see more attacks. It would be naive to think that we wouldn't, given current global circumstances. In the face of these attacks we'll have to make some pretty hard choices to preserve the openness we have, which i'm not so sure we are capable of...

 

[W. K. Lis]

Prior to yesterday, the security at Parliament Hill was able to stop people walking in with toothpaste on themselves.

Seems they go after the wrong people.

 

[Tewder]

Hey, let's not dismiss the dangers of bad oral hygiene!

 

[W. K. Lis]

 

[W. K. Lis]

Waiting...

 

[Long Island Mike]

WKL: This picture and those cartoons speak volumes about what happened in Ottawa this past Wednesday...

I offer my condolences to those affected and agree Canada will stand united in the aftermath of this incident...

LI MIKE

P.S. The title of this topic should be changed to "Increased security in Toronto and Canada following Ottawa Parliament shootings 10/22/2014"