A suspicious package discovered at an office tower on Metcalfe Street Monday afternoon did not contain any explosives or chemicals, the Ottawa Police Service confirmed in a news release just after 6 p.m.
The package has been removed from the building to be tested by Health Canada to determine what it is, a police spokesperson said.
Metcalfe Street is now open to pedestrians but remains closed to vehicles between Laurier Avenue and Slater Street to allow emergency vehicles and cars parked in the closed-off area to leave.
Police were called in to assist with the situation at 1:53 p.m. and a building in the 0-100 block of Metcalfe Street was evacuated, Const. Henri Lanctôt said Monday afternoon.
Multiple staff members at the Hotel Indigo across the street confirmed the office tower at 100 Metcalfe St. was the one evacuated.
A few evacuees weren’t feeling well and would have been treated by paramedics or taken to hospital, she said, but she couldn’t confirm how many were feeling ill, nor their symptoms.