Metal detectors installed at Manitoba Legislative Building

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This article was published 07/03/2018 (2935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Visitors attending question period at the Manitoba legislature were required to pass through metal detectors for the first time on Wednesday as the legislative session resumed after a three-month break.

“We felt it was time to catch up with other provinces. We know that just about every province has better security measures than we have had,” said House Speaker Myrna Driedger, who instituted the measure.

Metal detectors have yet to be installed at the front entrance to the Manitoba Legislative Building itself. The new security measure only applies to folks who wish to view proceedings in the legislative chamber from the visitors’ gallery.

“The intent is to make sure that people that go into the gallery feel safe in our building,” said Driedger.

The legislative building had to be evacuated one afternoon last October while MLAs were sitting after officials received what was later described as a crank call.

Driedger said that incident, in and of itself, did not precipitate the new security measure. The watershed moment for her was the 2014 shootings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, she said. A gunman shot a soldier on ceremonial sentry duty and entered the Centre Block, where he was eventually shot dead by officers.

“I know that I was in the (legislative) building when the Ottawa incident happened and I saw the fear in this building,” Driedger said in an interview at her office on Wednesday.

When she was elected House Speaker in 2016 she made it a priority to improve security in the building. However, her purview does not extend beyond the chamber; the security of the building falls under the Department of Justice. A committee is now reviewing future security measures for the entire building and its grounds.

A new law that was proclaimed last October allows for building security staff to screen persons entering the Legislative Building for weapons. A security officer may now also ask persons entering the building for ID. Security may refuse a person entry into the building if they refuse to verify their identity or be screened for weapons.

On Wednesday, visitors who were screened by metal detectors before entering the visitors’ gallery on the building’s third floor appeared generally supportive of the new measure.

“It doesn’t bother me. I’d rather be safe than sorry,” said Margaret Feliksiak, who was at the legislature to oppose the government’s decision to charge fees to Manitobans for sleep apnea machines.

Cynthia Doerksen, who frequently attends question period, was also positive about the move.

“I have no problem with it. It provides safety, right?” she said.

Driedger said visiting school groups will not have to pass through the metal detectors, but will access the visitors gallery through a separate door. An official later clarified that this will only apply to groups that have registered in advance with the the legislature’s visitor tour program.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca