NEW YORK TIMES: Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms ofCanada’s House of Commons who became a national hero in October after an armed attack on Parliament, was appointed the ambassador to Ireland on Thursday.
Mr. Vickers’s experience in diplomacy is mainly limited to protecting visiting dignitaries, including members of the British royal family. But Mr. Vickers, formerly a senior member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, rose from relative obscurity just after the attack when it emerged that he had spun backward, dived to the ground and set off a volley of bullets that killed a gunman who had invaded Parliament after killing a soldier at the nearby National War Memorial.
After firing the shots, Mr. Vickers entered a nearby room where Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative caucus were meeting and announced, “I engaged the suspect, and the suspect is deceased.” … (more)
