André Dallaire

Biography

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

Born in Longueuil, Quebec, Dallaire was diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia at sixteen years of age. He had quit his job at a Montreal convenience store on October 25, 1995, removing all the money out of the cash register and walking off mid-shift. On October 30, his sister reported receiving a letter from him that had been postmarked in Ottawa.

The break-in

At 02:10 UTC−5 on November 5, 1995, Dallaire arrived outside 24 Sussex Drive and spent the next 20 minutes throwing stones onto the grounds and waving at security cameras while carrying a pocket knife alternately described as three or five inches in length (7.6 to 12.7 cm).

He then climbed the fence and strode over to the house, where he smashed a glass door and entered, wandering around the basement and ground floor for 30 minutes before heading to the Chrétiens' bedroom, where he was confronted by Chrétien's wife Aline as he was pulling on his gloves. Aline hurried back into the bedroom and locked the door, rousing her husband, who initially dismissed her story as "just a dream", while she dialled the RCMP officers stationed outside the house. Stories diverged as to whether Jean or Aline Chrétien brandished an Inuit stone sculpture of a loon in case Dallaire broke through the door.

Dallaire did not attempt to break down the door, and waited for the police to arrive. Controversially, it took roughly seven minutes for the police to respond to Aline's desperate call about an intruder trying to kill the Prime Minister, in part because the first officer to respond had forgotten his key to the residence.

Legal events

Dallaire was kept in a group home for the duration of the trial. Expert witness Dominique Bourget, a psychiatrist with the Royal Ottawa Hospital, testified that Dallaire viewed himself as a "secret agent" avenging the loss of sovereigntist forces in the 1995 Quebec referendum, and that he believed killing the Prime Minister would cause him to "become a hero for the nation".

His travel during the trial was not restricted, so long as he was accompanied at all times by a worker from the group home. He was formally charged with attempted murder, breaking and entering, possession of a weapon and being unlawfully in a dwelling. His defence counsel was John Hale.

The trial also brought to light the security camera footage of Dallaire freely roaming the property, while RCMP officers should have been monitoring the cameras. Ultimately, four officers were suspended for several months, while three supervisors were reassigned.

Aftermath

In 1998, Dallaire spoke to the media, apologizing for his prior behaviour, and reassuring the Canadian public that he was now on medication that controlled his actions, and that he hoped the Chrétiens could forgive his actions.

Also in 1998, an intoxicated man was found on the grounds of the Prime Minister's residence, raising questions about the security upgrade undertaken since Dallaire's intrusion.

Reporters revisited the 1995 Dallaire breach in August 2014, when there was a break-in at the home of Justin Trudeau, who was then the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, the party with the third most seats. The Dallaire breach was compared with other Ottawa security breaches in October 2014, after a mad gunman had killed a soldier and attacked the Parliament buildings. The Dallaire breach was discussed again in October 2015, after the Federal election that made Trudeau Prime Minister. Trudeau did not move into the 24 Sussex, the Prime Minister's official residence. The main reason was that the aging residence needed at least ten million dollars in repairs to make it safely habitable, but an additional concern was the site's security.