Agriculture On the Hill — Tragedy Experienced First-Hand

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Ottawa may not be everyone’s hometown, but Parliament Hill and monuments like the War Memorial belong to all of Canada. An act of violence towards our armed forces and national landmarks is an act of violence towards each of us. Ottawa is also a place where people from across the country are always meeting and gathering, including many individuals from the agriculture community, and some of these people experienced the tragedy first-hand on Wednesday.

The National War Memorial in Ottawa, where Cpl Nathan Cirillo was killed on October 22nd, 2014.
The National War Memorial in Ottawa, where Cpl Nathan Cirillo was killed on October 22nd, 2014.

The Conservative caucus was meeting in the Centre Block on the Hill when the shooting transpired. A spokesperson for Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz confirmed shortly after the events that the minister was safe. NDP ag critic Malcolm Allen and Liberal ag critic Mark Eyking tweeted that they were also in weekly caucus meetings when the Hill went into lockdown.

Farm leaders from across the country happened to also be Ottawa for a Canadian Federation of Agriculture board meeting. They were at CFA’s office several blocks from Parliament Hill, but were also locked down, according to Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney and tweets posted during the events by Norm Hall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

Meanwhile, a group of SeCan employees was touring the Parliament Building when the shooting happened. They remained under lockdown well into the evening on Wednesday.

We’ve compiled some tweets from those who were on-hand through this ordeal. Our thoughts are with each of you, your families and all Canadians reeling today from this tragedy.

Tweets from individuals involved in agriculture on or near Parliament Hill on Wednesday:

Categories: Eastern Canada / News / Western Canada

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