Canada Day Celebrations
5 July 2010
G4S Secure Solutions Provides Security for the 143rd Canada Day Birthday Party in the Nation’s Capital
Right across the country, Canada celebrates its birthday with as much fanfare as possible. Every community has its own way of celebrating this event and develops ways to get as many participants as possible extolling the virtues of this great country of ours. Not only was this Canada’s Birthday in the Nation’s Capital, but it was also an extra special celebration with the visit from Her Majesty, The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
In Ottawa, the National Capital Commission (NCC) is charged with the “beautification of the Nation’s Capital” through a variety of assets that they own such as the Rideau Canal. Further, the NCC is responsible to maintain all of the “Crown’s Assets” through their property management division.
What the NCC is best known for is its regular provision of events to celebrate Canada and Canada Day is the big one for the year. As such the NCC organizes all the events in and around Parliament Hill for Canada Day including the closure of roads in the downtown core that turns Ottawa into a very large mall going from Bronson Street to Dalhousie, from Parliament Hill to Laurier Avenue and in Gatineau from the Portage Bridge as far East as Sacre Coeur. With this comes over 65 barrier posts which are manned in coordination with the Ottawa Police Services and le Service de Police de la ville de Gatineau, to secure unauthorized vehicles entering the “Closed Zone”.
For the first time, G4S Secure Solutions was contracted to deliver Barrier Attendant and Barrier Control Services to the NCC. The NCC had been providing security for Canada Day over the last 40 years and have a well developed program but could not find a contractor who was able to fulfill the need to its fullest, until G4S. This event for G4S was extra special due to the Queen’s visit and all the dignitaries that attended the celebration including Prime Minister Harper and his family.
G4S was charged with delivering that wanted service. G4S took on a Para-military approach, and developed the program to assure every single post was always filled and covered by G4S throughout the 22 hour event coverage.
Bill McLean, Operations Manager G4S Ottawa and Denis Moquin Site Manager of the Sun-life Financial Centre (ex police Staff Sergeant) coordinated over 100 guards for one day, to perform barrier control functions as well as other security related functions. To successfully run this, G4S had developed a plan requiring two Command Centres, one at the Sunlife Building in Ottawa and the other in front of the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, to help coordinate the attendants reaching their posts on time and being relieved throughout the day for comfort and meal breaks utilizing a team of mobile supervisors and floaters. This latter challenge was where previous contractors had failed. Four vehicles supported the efforts and also provided water and power/fruit bars to all the posts.
Canada Day is an action packed event where thousands, tens of thousands were able to frolic safely and enjoy the birthday party to celebrate the Nation’s Birthday. This year, the Queen of England graced us with her presence during the day and required some additional handling from the Security Team.
Thanks to Denis Moquin, Bill McLean and the rest of the supervisory team. G4S received high marks from the NCC on the delivery of a well organized, tightly timed Barrier Control service. Taking on a Para-Military approach by Denis and his crew, was well received by the organizing committee with their comment that this is this first time where the NCC felt comfortable that the barriers were well controlled and no un-authorized vehicular access was granted.
Congratulations to Robert Bento, Denis Moquin and Bill McLean on a superbly run Canada Day!
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About G4S
G4S Secure Solutions (Canada) Ltd. is a leading provider of integrated security solutions in Canada. With 25 offices, and approximately 7,500 employees across the country, G4S offers a unique combination of best-in-breed security personnel, risk assessments, and security technology to provide users with customized security solutions uniquely tailored to meet their needs. For more information visit www.g4s.ca
About G4S
G4S is the world's leading security solutions group, which specializes in outsourcing of business processes in sectors where security and safety risks are considered a strategic threat. G4S is the largest employer quoted on the London Stock Exchange and has a secondary stock exchange listing in Copenhagen. G4S has operations in more than 110 countries and over 595,000 employees. For more information on G4S, visit www.g4s.com