Mark Sutcliffe, now the mayor, reflects on broadcasting during the 2014 Parliament Hill shooting

It's been 10 years since a man with a rifle shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, an honour guard stationed at the National War Memorial.

The gunman then rushed onto Parliament Hill and into Centre Block, where he was shot and killed by security guards.

Cirillo, a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, was 24 years old.

It came just days after a car ramming attack in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. claimed the life of another soldier, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53.

In the ensuring moments after the shooting in Ottawa, the city's downtown core was completely shut down as police officers worked to ascertain whether the gunman who killed Cirillo and stormed into Parliament was acting alone. It would be hours before many people in downtown buildings would be cleared to leave.

The chaos of that day began just minutes before Mark Sutcliffe, now the mayor of Ottawa, had signed off from his daily radio show on Newstalk 580 CFRA.

Speaking on Ottawa at Work with Patricia Boal, Sutcliffe looked back on that day and the ways Ottawa has changed.

The interview below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Patricial Boal: You were actually broadcasting and had just gotten off the air — you were doing that 9 to 10 hour between Steve Madeley and Lowell Green at the time — when this shooting happened and you immediately came back on the air. What do you remember about hearing that this had happened just a stone's throw from where we sit today?

Mark Sutcliffe: I was sitting right here, and I'd just finished my show, and we heard that here had been a shooting. The information trickles in slowly. You hear there has been a shooting, the police are responding, and then you hear the nature of it, that it was a shooting at the War Memorial where Nathan Cirillo was shot. Then, there was information that came out that someone had breached Centre Block on Parliament Hill.

At first, what was not clear was whether this one was person, or it was multiple people, and I think there was significant fear that was it was more than that. And there had just been an incident a few days earlier … that had shocked a lot of people. Even though it was long after September 11th, we still felt that Canada was immune from these sorts of things. This was not the sort of thing that happened in Canada, and this was not the sort of thing that happened in Ottawa.

I remember thinking about how when I grew up in Ottawa, you could bring your car onto Parliament Hill; you could drive around and see the Christmas lights on Parliament Hill. Nobody stopped you, nobody checked on you; you'd drive your car right up onto Parliament Hill, do a lap, show your friends the Christmas lights and then go off. There was a road right underneath the National Defence headquarters in downtown Ottawa. That's the city you (Patricia) and I grew up in. It changed a little bit after September 11th but then this event happened 10 years ago, and I remember how people felt like this is something we need to be prepared for.

All of a sudden, as the day unfolded, we were the international news story of the day. I was interviewed by a couple of American television networks, including Fox News. I was the first guest on Bill O'Reilly's show on Fox News that night. And then Anderson Cooper came to Ottawa and did his show from Ottawa that night.

Boal: It was that initial reaction that we lost a level of innocence, by the fact that someone was able to get inside the Parliament Buildings and a shooting occurring in the Parliament Buildings, but we didn't know whether this was someone acting alone or whether it was a bigger threat. That kind of aligned it with September 11th for me, in terms of coverage, because I was in this building on September 11th and things kept happening. It was a huge and horrible day. There was talk about moving us out of this building because we're close to the (U.S.) embassy, we're close to Parliament Hill. Was there the potential for something to happen? The fact that we escaped that here in Ottawa on that day gave some of us some reassurance that it is different in Canada. And then this was really terrifying.

I was working later that day. I was coming in for an evening shift, and I got called to come in early and I remember how eerie it was driving into a downtown that everyone had been told to leave. Having to go through a security checkpoint before getting to the building here was absolutely surreal and we had reporters who were out wearing vests, covering the situation until they knew exactly what it was.

By the time that you were on the air that night, we knew it was the act of one person. Were you starting to feel reassured somewhat?

Sutcliffe: I remember when I was on the radio, I was texting with a Member of Parliament who was on Parliament Hill at the time and was in Centre Block. There were rounds of live ammunition fired in Centre Block and people were in absolute shock. Members of Parliament were brought into rooms and barricaded into these rooms. I was texting with an MP who was in that situation and at one point, he said the Sergeant-at-Arms, Kevin Vickers, just came in and told us that he shot the person who had come onto Parliament Hill with a gun and so we shared that with our listeners.

Boal: No one knew the name Kevin Vickers then.

Sutcliffe: It was unconfirmed and unofficial, of course, but we shared that the person had been shot. Remember that there were plainclothes police officers downtown and people saw them with their weapons drawn at different times and wondered if they were police officers or if they were perpetrators, so there was a ton of confusion and very significant fear. I don't remember exactly when people felt that the situation was under control, but it was at least the middle of the afternoon. That was the point that we had been told, we had been reassured that there doesn't seem to be any continuing threat.

Boal: I hated seeing those headlines about this happening in Ottawa. I had that feeling again during the convoy, which a lot of people did when there was so much attention on the capital. The two things are very different, obviously, but the bulk of that occupation happening right in front of the Parliament buildings and the ensuing discussions for months and months afterwards about what should be done with Wellington (Street) and if we should open it or not and finally getting it reopened to traffic. That took me back to that innocence, too. We could drive onto Parliament Hill. We could walk right up to the Parliament buildings. Is there not even going to be access in front of the building? How much do we give up because we start to feel increasing threats? Was that important for you, that access, people being at least able to drive by and look at the Parliament buildings when they have their friends in town, was that important to you?

Sutcliffe: When we reopened Wellington after it had been closed for almost a year following the convoy, it was really important to me to see traffic on the street again. A big part of that was every time I went by and saw the road barricaded, it felt like a reminder of the convoy. It was like a monument to the convoy that the road was closed. I felt if we're going to close Wellington Street someday for good reason, let's do that because we have a plan for Wellington Street and it's the right thing to do, not because some people bullied us into closing it. To get it open again, I think, was a big moment for our city… to move on from the convoy and the implications of it.

The interesting thing is, on October 22nd, 2014, I think there were a lot of flaws in the security on Parliament Hill that were unveiled that day and revealed to the community and a lot of changes have been made since then. I've had conversations with the federal government about security in the downtown core and the concerns they have and the threats they hear about. I think we have to acknowledge that we see more and more demonstrations all the time in downtown Ottawa. It's almost a two-to-three-times-a-week kind of thing. We are going to see more and more security in downtown Ottawa in the future.

Boal: More security in what form?

Sutcliffe: Well, we'll see, but we're going to need more and more security, I think, when you see how vulnerable some of the locations are in downtown Ottawa. When we reopened Wellington, at the time, there was a conversation between us and the federal government about the federal government possibly acquiring Wellington. There have been conversations since then and while nothing's changed, my expectation is when you look ahead 10 years, 20 years down the road, you have to figure that Wellington Street is going to be part of some type of Parliamentary precinct that is controlled by the federal government. Right now, the City of Ottawa owns the road, but you have to figure one day the federal government is going to own that road and one day that road won't have as much traffic on it for security reasons.

We're going to have to make big decisions about what that means for traffic in the downtown core and how people move around, but you have to figure one day, that's going to happen, whether it's sooner or later. We are seeing, in this world today, increasing threats and increasing security risks and increasing security presence.

Boal: It makes both of us and a lot of people listening sad, as people who grew up in Ottawa, to think about that but, as mayor, would you be more than happy to pass along that responsibility? That's a massive responsibility to think about the safety in that area. Should that be a federal responsibility?

Sutcliffe: It wouldn't be passing it on, necessarily, because the Ottawa police are involved in all of that. Whether there is, as there is, a Parliamentary precinct police service or not, whether the RCMP have a presence or not, the Ottawa police are part of the strategy always. They have a role to play in all of that. The challenge with Wellington Street is that it is a major artery through the downtown of our city. If it's not going to have cars on it, we have to make sure there is a good way to get people through from one side of downtown to the other because a lot of people use that route every day.

There's a lot of challenges to it and I'm not suggesting anything is imminent, but I remember thinking, when we reopened the street and when I spoke with federal cabinet ministers and federal officials about some of the challenges they're facing downtown — and you know they're building this new south block and they're talking about a tunnel under Wellington — you have figure one day, just as we moved on from cars being allowed on Parliament Hill and just as we moved on from there being a road underneath the National Defence headquarters, eventually, one day, for one reason or another, we're probably going to move on from having cars on Wellington, which is why we need to have that plan. We need to have a plan for downtown Ottawa and plan for the traffic through the downtown core. We need to do all that work.

Boal: Going back, again, 10 years ago, was that the biggest story you ever covered in your time?

Sutcliffe: Probably the biggest local story, for sure. I was on the air on September 11th, 2001, as well, and in the days after that, and there have been a lot of events that we covered together on CFRA over the years, but that was certainly the biggest local story. It was such a shocking story, and I think it changed our perception of Ottawa. We thought we were free from these kinds of things. We thought that kind of act of violence would never happen in our nation's capital. I think we know now that anything is possible, and we have to be ready for it.

One of the memories that I have from the aftermath of the events 10 years ago was hearing about the people who rushed to help Nathan Cirillo. Tragically, he passed away, but there were about five or six people who went to his side and held him and spoke to him as he was in his final moments. I'll never forget that. I've thought about it so many times over the last 10 years. Just the humanitarian nature of that, the selflessness of it, for those people to be there for him; total strangers supporting someone who had just been shot. I've never forgotten that, and it still chokes me up to this day to think about those final moments of his life and at least there were some kind and gentle people who were there to care for him, and, to me, that was an Ottawa moment.