If you're following along on your briefing note, we would pick up on page 5 with “F. 2014 - President of Germany”. That incident occurred in September 2014. The matter was referred to PROC by the House on September 25, 2014.
Three meetings were held by PROC to gather evidence. Something for the committee to keep in mind for its study is that there were about four groupings of witnesses. The member from Acadie—Bathurst would be one kind of group of witness, officials from the House of Commons. Then there was the acting clerk, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the deputy sergeant-at-arms. We also had the commissioner of the RCMP accompanied by the assistant commissioner and the deputy commissioner. Finally, the chief of police of Ottawa plus an inspector appeared.
This resulted in the 34th report from the 41st Parliament's second session.
As for the incident itself, on September 25 the member from Acadie—Bathurst was in his office in the Justice Building. The bells began to ring for a vote. He boarded a bus in front of the Justice Building. The bus proceeded towards Parliament Hill. It was stuck in a traffic jam in front of the Confederation Building. Apparently, the RCMP were holding vehicles at the vehicular checkpoint in anticipation of the arrival of the motorcade of the President of Germany.
Fearing he would miss the vote, the member and other members exited the bus and proceeded on foot to the Hill. When crossing Bank Street north of Wellington, an RCMP member intercepted the member from Acadie—Bathurst, further delaying him from accessing Parliament Hill and making him wait until the motorcade had passed.
It was noted by the Sergeant-at-Arms during his appearance before the committee that the delay of the member of Acadie—Bathurst's right to access the parliamentary precinct freely in fact began during the traffic jam, which caused the buses to be held back from Parliament Hill.
It may also be worth mentioning that the member felt he was treated rudely by the member of the RCMP. The member did, however, make it to the House in time for the vote.
In respect of recommendations made by the committee in its report and changes made to security protocols on the Hill, during his appearance before the committee, RCMP Commissioner Paulson stated that since 2012 when a similar incident occurred, which we will get to in a moment, involving members being impeded from accessing the Hill freely, a number of changes have been implemented. These include the distribution to all RCMP members posted on the Hill of a directory of members of the House of Commons—that's the booklet that contains the names and pictures of all the members of the House—ensuring that all newly assigned RCMP members to the Hill are thoroughly briefed on parliamentary privilege and ensuring the prompt dismantling of security parameters established during major events and demonstrations at the conclusion of every event.
Also, Assistant RCMP Commissioner Michaud during his appearance before the committee stated that following the incident involving the member from Acadie—Bathurst two security protocols were put in place. First, motorcades were to begin using an alternative gate to enter and exit Parliament Hill. He noted that this was successfully employed during a visit by the President of the Republic of Finland. The second protocol established that last-minute changes to the movement of motorcades were to be communicated to House of Commons security services by an RCMP vehicle that would arrive ahead of the motorcade.
PROC's report on the matter made the following recommendations: first, that the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms provide all members with a phone number they can call in case of an emergency related to an obstruction that they experience in accessing the parliamentary precinct; and second, that a paragraph focusing solely on parliamentary privilege be included in the operational plans employed by security partners on the Hill.
The report concludes that members have had their right to unimpeded access to the parliamentary precinct denied with all too great a frequency. The committee considered the best solutions to this to be improved planning, greater coordination, and increased education and awareness on the part of security services and the members.