RCMP Commissioner Paulson speaks to media on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Reuters/AFP/Ottawa

The gunman who shot dead a soldier in Canada’s capital and then stormed Parliament last year said he was protesting against Canadian military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a video recording released yesterday.
Michael Zehaf-Bibeau made the short video on his mobile phone just before he launched his attacks on October 22.
Zehaf-Bibeau, a Canadian convert to Islam, died in a gun battle with police and security guards shortly after entering the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.
“To those who are involved and listen to this movie, this is in retaliation for Afghanistan and because (Canadian Prime Minister Stephen) Harper wants to send his troops to Iraq,” Zehaf-Bibeau said on the video, which police played to a committee of legislators.
“So we are retaliating, the Mujahedin of this world ... just aiming to hit some soldiers just to show that you’re not even safe in your own land, and you gotta be careful,” he said.
Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, struck three weeks after Canada decided to deploy forces in Iraq as part of a campaign against Islamic State (IS) militants.
Two days earlier, another convert to Islam had run down and killed a soldier in Quebec with his car.
Canada maintained a military mission in Afghanistan for the 10 years up to 2011.
Harper cited the attacks and the threat of “jihadist terrorism” as the reason for a tough new draft security law the right-leaning Conservative government unveiled on January 30.
Critics say the law – which would give Canada’s spies greater powers to disrupt attacks – is too sweeping.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Bob Paulson did not say if the police probe into the attacks had determined whether Zehaf-Bibeau was acting alone.
Paulson also testified at the hearing that the RCMP continues to search for possible accomplices or others who may be involved in planning the attack.
“I’m persuaded that Zehaf-Bibeau didn’t come to this act alone,” he told the committee.
“The RCMP believes, on the evidence, that Zehaf-Bibeau was a terrorist,” he said. “Anyone who aided him, abetted him, counselled him, facilitated his crimes or conspired with him is also, in our view, a terrorist and, where the evidence exists, we will charge them with terrorist offences.”
Paulson said more than 400 people have been interviewed so far as part of the investigation into the shooting rampage.
While in Ottawa, Zehaf-Bibeau used public Internet and payphones to communicate with individuals in Ottawa and British Columbia province.
“We have been able to identify some of these individual and we continue to pursue this avenue,” Paulson said.
He also noted that the RCMP has not been able to determine where Zehaf-Bibeau obtained the gun used in the attack.
Paulson said 13 seconds had been edited from the start of the video and five seconds from the end. He declined to explain why, citing operational reasons.
He later told reporters that releasing these bits could “harm” the RCMP’s ongoing investigation.
“We’ll not cease until you guys decide to be a peaceful country ... and stop going to other countries and stop occupying and killing the righteous of us who are trying to bring back religious law in our countries,” Zehaf-Bibeau said in the video.
Paulson made his remarks in the same parliamentary room where Conservative legislators were meeting when the attack took place on October 22.