THUNDER BAY – Local Remembrance Day ceremonies had a stronger and more visible police presence than normal.
Officers with the Thunder Bay Police Service were present at both Waverley Park and the Fort William Gardens on Tuesday for the annual ceremonies to honour those who made sacrifices for their country, the first time officers had been there in a protection role.
Chief J.P. Levesque said there was a total of 36 city police officers at both sites.
“It wasn’t extra security because we’ve never had security before. The only they we had ever done was traffic control,” Levesque said. “On top of traffic control at both of the sites we had security in place.”
The decision was made as a direct response to two attacks in October against uniformed military personnel. Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, was shot while standing guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa while Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was intentionally struck by a vehicle while walking in a parking lot in Quebec.
Even though there were no direct threats against the local ceremonies, Levesque did not want to take any chances.
“People expect to be able to go to these types of things and be safe,” he said.
“They didn’t ask for it but when we let city officials know and organizers for the two ceremonies know what was going on, I got the sense there was a bit of a sigh of relief.”
Organizers of the ceremony at the Gardens, where a number of officers could be seen around the top ring of the stands and at the openings onto the floor, made mention of their presence and thanked them for standing guard.
Members of the OPP who participated in the Waverley Park ceremony wearing their dress uniforms were armed, which is not usually the case.
“It may be that this is the way things are from now on,” Levesque said.
