The federal government plans to bolster security around Parliament Hill and the headquarters of the Department of National Defence with a fence and several bollards to prevent cars from getting too close.
The Defence Department will spend as much as $5-million to erect a fence and bollards around its 19-storey head office in downtown Ottawa, according to tender documents released yesterday.
The military has been reviewing security around its building for months and even considered moving its head office outside central Ottawa. A departmental committee decided last year to keep the headquarters in Ottawa but to improve security around the building.
About 3,500 people work in the office, which is located less than a kilometre from Parliament Hill. The H-shaped complex consists of two 19-storey-high towers connected by a bridge.
The headquarters has been largely free of any obvious security for years and looks like any other office tower. But Colonel Claude Rochette, who heads support services for the military in the Ottawa area, said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have changed the federal government's approach to security.
"After 9/11, everybody realized that we have to have some security," Col. Rochette said. "The bottom line is that we are committed to making sure that our people feel free . . . and they know that they have a healthy and safe place accessible to them."
Col. Rochette said that once the headquarters project is completed, the department will begin beefing up security at other locations.
"It's part of the long-term plan. We are looking at all the buildings," he said.
The department operates out of 40 locations around Ottawa and has about 12,000 employees in the National Capital Region.
Col. Rochette said the military isn't sure yet what the fence will look like or how tall it will be. He said that depends on the bids that come in for the project. The tender called for the work to be completed within six months and sets a budget of between $1-million and $5-million.
On Parliament Hill, the government is installing a set of retractable bollards at the West Gate on a one-year trial basis. "The purpose is to assess the performance of the bollard system during the four seasons, with emphasis on winter conditions," says a tender document issued last week. If the trial is a success, "an option to procure either four or 10 additional sets of bollards within a period of two years from the completion of the assessment will be exercised."
No dollar figure was attached to the trial project.
There has been increasing pressure for tighter security on Parliament Hill, particularly after allegations surfaced last month that a group of 17 alleged terrorists plotted to storm the Parliament buildings, take MPs hostage and behead the Prime Minister.
Paul Waldie