Last month the last segment of "In Memory's Eye" included a photograph reproduced from the Ottawa Citizen showing the effect a bombing incident in 1966 could have had on the Chamber of the House of Commons and its members.

Twice in previous issues this web site drew attention to the potential danger to Canada's parliamentarians arising from the growth of global-wide terrorist activities

Now comes news that parliamentarians in the British House of Commons have acted to increase security against terrorism directed at the "Mother of Parliaments", along the lines laid out in our December 2002 issue "Security within Parliament Porous and Ineffective".

According to a BBC report, "Plans to install a £1.3m bullet proof screen in the House of Commons have been approved by MPs. The screen will seal off the public gallery from the main debating chamber.

A temporary barrier, costing £600,000, was erected during the Easter break and is designed to protect MPs and ministers from possible terror attacks.

Commons leader Peter Hain revealed that the move had been taken after advice from security service MI5 about a possible biological attack. Mr. Hain said the MI5 director general Eliza Manningham-Buller had acted on 'clear intelligence' when she made the 'unequivocal recommendation' that a screen be installed."

MPs voted by 112 votes to 76 - a majority of 36 - to go ahead with plans for a permanent screen which will be installed during the summer of 2005.

It may seem to a few readers that preoccupation with the protection of Members of Parliament is a matter of slight importance given the many other more pressing problems facing the country. "Nobodies", "incompetent jackasses", "trained seals", are some of the less flattering labels that have been attached to them over the years, but let it be stressed that they are "our MPs", "our nobodies", etc., etc., and deserve the best protection we can give them.

Writing as one who was there on that fateful day in 1966, and whose closest colleague was a Hansard reporter on the floor when mayhem was avoided by mere seconds, the bomb having detonated prematurely in a nearby washroom on the third floor, there is an obligation to warn that today's MPs are at risk as never before, and that a protective screen is essential in the Chamber of the Commons for their safety.

According to newspaper reports, a Commons and a Senate committee have agreed to establish two working groups, to provide broad security policy and to implement it. There will still remain separate security services for each institution, and much of policy will cover security on "The Hill", the site on which the Parliament of Canada is built.

It is inside the Parliament Buildings that the most outrageous breaches of security have occurred. There have been numerous incidents of various objects being thrown from the public galleries, and of unauthorized persons entering the Chamber or other rooms while events were taking place.

As the present Parliament is coming to a close it is unlikely that any firm measure, such as that at Westminster, will be undertaken speedily. But re-elected and newly elected Members should tackle the issue of indoor security as a priority when a new Parliament is convened following the General Election to be held in June.

Why should elected MPs wait on unelected Senators to take the necessary first step in their own bailiwick, the House of Commons?

--30--