Security review underway after 2 'code black' incidents at Metro Vancouver hospitals

VANCOUVER -

Two bomb threats in two days, one involving a possible improvised explosive, have prompted a review by the little-known branch of the health-care system overseeing security at Metro Vancouver hospitals and various medical facilities.

In an exclusive interview with CTV News, the director of the Lower Mainland Integrated Protection Services said while they don’t believe them to be related, a swatting incident at Royal Columbian Hospital on Friday and a patient smuggling an imitation bomb into the emergency department of Surrey Memorial Hospital on Saturday, are concerning.

"These kind of events do not happen often and to have two in a row, that would be definitely unusual," said Jonathan Acorn, who manages security for Fraser, Vancouver Coastal and Providence Healthcare as well as the Provincial Health Services Authority, which includes the BC Cancer Agency and BC Centre for Disease Control.

"We're certainly reviewing and going through a debriefing process to see what learnings we can make from those incidents," he said, emphasizing security protocols unfolded as planned. "We are prepared, our staff are trained, there are protocols in place to help ensure a safe secure health-care environment."

The two back-to-back incidents prompted "code black" declarations at the hospitals, shutting down parts of the facilities and hobbling operations while rattling health-care workers inside.

The second happened during the "freedom convoy" that started in Langley and ended in downtown Vancouver.

"Based on the evidence we've collected so far as well as what we know about the suspect that we are looking for, we have not identified any links," said Surrey RCMP Cpl. Vanessa Munn, who said the suspicious object officers analyzed off-site had been brought in by a registered patient and did not have explosive capabilities. "They were observed placing the device within the hospital, which did trigger multiple events including an evacuation of part of the hospital."

Sources tell CTV News the device was convincing. Mounties have identified a suspect and are actively trying to locate him.

New Westminster police were vague about the nature of the threat, but "code black" is only implemented in the event of a bomb threat.

"RCH was in lockdown as a precaution when a phone call came in that threatened the safety of staff and patients," wrote a New Westminster police spokesperson. "The hospital remained in lockdown until it was determined to be a hoax…approximately one hour."

EVENTS UNFOLDING IN INCREASINGLY HOSTILE CLIMATE

While Acorn and police agencies reiterated there are no known links between the two incidents or the "freedom convoy," on Friday acute care workers in Vancouver and staff at the BC Cancer Agency received memos warning them to take shelter inside hospitals during the convoy and hide any signs of being health-care workers as the demonstration was planned to take anti-vaccine and anti-mandate messages past several hospitals.

When asked if health-care workers are facing increased protests and intimidation at vaccination clinics and elsewhere, Acorn said they’ve become a "common occurrence" and that pandemic fatigue is playing a role.

The associate dean for the Faculty of Health and Social Development at UBC Okanagan studies terrorism and violence and points out rising tensions and increasing politicization of public health measures are creating a tinderbox atmosphere.

"We're tending to go too much into one camp or the other," said Edward Taylor, who notes authorities have a fine line to walk between accommodating freedom of expression and facilitating harassment and intimidation. "There has to be some latitude (for different ideas), but there also has to be boundaries and we have to give more support to our health authorities that are trying to work and save our lives."

THE IMPACT ON HEALTH-CARE WORKERS

Acorn was adamant that there are multiple safety measures and protocols in place, with detailed plans for each health-care facility, and revealed Integrated Protection Services include social media monitoring as part of their ongoing threat assessment strategies.

Public mischief charges could apply in the swatting and fake IED cases.

"We can't speculate on motive or what they wanted the outcome of this to be," explained Munn.

But Taylor urged law enforcement agencies and health authorities alike to take the incidents extremely seriously, given the increasingly ugly discourse and sentiments stemming from and exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic.

"It’s intimidation by symbols…aimed at you for your beliefs and that's a very stressful, frightening position for health-care workers to be in," he said. "It doesn't matter if (the threats against hospitals) are real or not, they have the symbol of disturbing and breaking that institution that represents hope."