Bollards to be installed at City Hall

By Isaac Würmann

The City of Ottawa is planning to install security bollards at City Hall to prevent a truck-ramming terror attack, according to Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.

Watson briefly discussed the plan on CBC’s Ottawa Morning on Jan. 11.

Bollards are sturdy posts that prevent people from driving into certain areas, similar to the ones at checkpoints on Parliament Hill around the U.S. Embassy along Sussex Drive on the west side of the Byward Market.

“We have seen, unfortunately and sadly, the world change,” Watson said in the interview. “You look at the Christmas market in Berlin and the weapon of choice, sadly, is something as crude as a truck ramming into people.”

In December 2016, 12 people were killed after a driver deliberately drove a truck into a Christmas market in the German capital. Since then, a number of similar attacks have occurred around the world, including deadly incidents in Barcelona and New York City.

“We have a lot of people who go onto the plaza,” Watson said, referring to Marion Dewar Plaza on the Laurier Avenue side of City Hall. The plaza is host to numerous festivals and public ceremonies throughout the year.

“I think we have to take every reasonable — and not overreact — but every reasonable precaution that someone does not come and do harm to our citizens.”

The city has not announced where exactly the bollards will be placed or when they will be installed.