‘This make us more confident’: Active attacker drills appreciated by students
In the wake of school shootings in the United States, students and staff at St. Clair College in Windsor say “active attacker” drills are a good idea.
The college conducted the first of three emergency communication exercises Tuesday at its downtown campus. Similar scenarios will take place at other campuses next month.
“It's great to secure the life of students,” said event management student Sangeeba Sharme.
“They teach us how to hide, how to escape, how to save the people,” Sharme said. “It's a very good activity to teach, to learn more things, right? For our life, for others' life.”
Sharme explained similar drills have taken place where she works, suggesting it’s not scary but beneficial to be prepared.
“This make us more confident when we know how to handle the things. If people don't have much knowledge how to escape themselves and how to save others, then it's really scary,” she said. “But if you have a little knowledge about these things, I think then it's great.”
Classmate Teran Grewl agreed, but admitted it is worrisome to think about a tragic event unfolding.
“Whether we are in the mall, whether we are on the street, it helps everywhere.”
“Yeah, it is scary thinking about a risk like this. It's a scary thing, like active attackers are happening every day back in the U.S. I think. So it's really scary. Yeah. But we need to fight on it. We need to mitigate the risk,” Grewl told CTV News.
College staff said the communication exercise will happen again Apr. 6 at the South Campus and Apr. 13 at the Chatham Campus.
“It's to help staff and students understand what communication would be sent out if ever such an event happened,” explained Rebecca Demchuk, associate vice president of safety security and facilities management.
“To understand what they should do if that happens, it gives them options and we think it's important that everybody understands there's options in a situation like that.”
Demchuk said recent events in Nashville and Michigan State University emphasize the need to be prepared.
“When I heard it last night, it's very unfortunate that these events are happening in our world, but we need to be prepared. You know, it really hits home when it's close to home. And we thought it just it became essential that we ran such a drill.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
What happens after we die? Most Canadians say an afterlife does exist, survey shows
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.