Parliament Hill again open to the public; tours to resume Monday: Speaker

OTTAWA – The grounds of Parliament Hill have reopened to the public and the Speaker says tours are to resume on Monday.

Parliament Hill had been off limits until Friday night in the wake of the fatal shooting of a soldier at the National War Memorial and the killing of his assailant in the Commons Centre Block on Wednesday.

Speaker Andrew Scheer says visitors and House of Commons employees can expect to see heightened RCMP presence at entrances to buildings in the Parliamentary Precinct.

Scheer says counselling sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesday for Commons staff.

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo — the honour guard at the National War Memorial — was gunned down by a mentally unstable homeless man with a rifle.

Gunman Michael Zehaf Bibeau was shot dead by Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons, after he’d entered Centre Block through the front doors, with RCMP in hot pursuit.