Echos of the Boston bombing can be heard in Canada says Kerry
People left flowers and a picture of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the national war memorial in Ottawa where he was killed.
PHOTO: FLICKR USER JAMIE MCCAFFREY (CC BY 2.0)
OTTAWA—The shootings last week at Ottawa’s War Memorial and on Parliament Hill constituted a terrorist attack, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird agreed Tuesday.
The pair made the comments during a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday afternoon, following Kerry’s visit to the Cenotaph, where he laid a wreath in honour of two Canadian soldiers killed last week in Ottawa and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. – Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent.
While Kerry was reluctant to “prejudice” any characterization of the shootings by Canadian authorities, he said he sees the attack as a terrorist act.
“Clearly anybody who walks up in a pre-meditated way with a rifle and attacks somebody in uniform and then purposefully goes to a parliament is committing by common sense standards a terrorist act,” said Kerry to a group of reporters at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development.
Baird agreed, echoing the sentiments of Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his address to the nation last Wednesday night.
“There’s no doubt that the events on Wednesday were not just an attack on one soldiers, an attack on building, they were an attack on our democracy, they were terrorist attacks. I think, as John (Kerry) said, it’s only common sense to label it that,” said Baird.
Baird also put to rest the idea of Canada “losing its innocence,” as questions raised by many columnists and commentators following last week’s attacks.
“These attacks were no loss of innocence, as some have described. While we are overall a remarkably safe nation, we are unfortunately not strangers to terrorism.”
Kerry said last week’s attacks in Ottawa reminded him of the Boston bombings in April 2013, which killed three and left more than 260 Boston marathon runners and on-lookers injured. During his time as a senator, Kerry represented the state of Massachusetts.
“This week, with an equal measure of sadness mixed with resolve, the echoes (of the Boston Bombings) can be heard here in Canada. Ottawa strong. Quebec strong. Canada strong,” said Kerry.
Baird and Kerry reaffirmed their common commitment to the fight against the Islamic State (IS) extremist group abroad as well as homegrown terrorism. Canada has committed military support to the U.S.-led mission against IS in Iraq.
Kerry said the bilateral partners are always looking for way to further co-operate, adding that Canada and the U.S. will work “quietly and carefully in the next days and months” to intensify its law enforcement, border protection and intelligence-sharing efforts.
“Canada and the United States are now in discussions, not with any sense that things weren’t done or there’s some information that we didn’t somehow share or have, but rather with a view to making certain that every possible stone is turned over, every possible policy is reviewed, because our obligation obviously is to protect our citizens.”
Baird said the pair also discussed the financing of terrorism and tackling the “challenge that is radicalization,” emphasizing that Canada and the U.S. are not safe havens for extremists.
Baird and Kerry also expressed their solidarity with Ukraine, which held parliamentary elections Tuesday. Kerry went on to denounce Russia’s support for plans for a local election in the rebel-held eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk on Nov. 2.
“This would be a clear violation of the commitments made by both Russia and the separatists that it backs in the Minsk agreements. The United States, along with the rest of the international community, will not recognize so-called separatist elections unless they happen within the framework of the special status law passed by Ukraine’s parliament and signed by President Poroshenko,” said Kerry.
The Keystone XL pipeline was discussed during Kerry’s meeting with Baird. Kerry said that he made it clear that the State Department continues to “pursue our due diligence,” but couldn’t provide an expected decision date.
“I certainly want to do it sooner rather than later, but I can’t tell you a precise date.”
michellezilio@ipolitics.ca
This article was originally published on iPolitics and is reprinted with permission through the Canadian University Press
