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Though he’s insisted it was only once that he brought a gun into the legislative building, an email that’s surfaced appears to allege a second incident of Minister Jeremy Harrison with a gun in the building.
More than a week ago, Speaker Randy Weekes made a series of allegations in his likely final speech in the Assembly. He accused members of government of harassing, bullying and intimidating him as Speaker. He also accused Minister Jeremy Harrison of seeking permission to carry a handgun in the legislative building, and of having brought a gun into the building.
Harrison admitted on Friday to bringing a long gun into the building once, about ten years ago. He said he was on his way to a hunting trip and didn’t want to leave the gun in his vehicle while he stopped at the building. Harrison apologized, calling it a mistake.
He also insisted that it was the only time he brought a gun into the building. When asked whether he could be forgetting another incident, like he said he forgot the first, Harrison said, “I’ve thought long and hard about whether there has been anything else, and there has not.”
On Wednesday, Speaker Randy Weekes shared an email that appears to detail a second incident. Weekes said this incident was a different year, a different time of year, and a different gun than the incident Harrison was talking about.
Several names in the email are redacted, but it was dated April 28, 2016, and appears to be sent from the acting Sergeant-at-Arms at the time.
It said that on that date, just before noon, a man in camouflage clothing and who was carrying a gun case was noticed walking toward the legislative building. The person who noticed him, whose name was redacted, didn’t recognize the person and was about to warn security staff about a gun until the man got closer and Harrison acknowledged them.
A statement provided on behalf Jeremy Harrison on Wednesday afternoon maintains there was only one incident.
“The Minister said he brought the gun in with knowledge of security, not that he had advanced approval. This letter/email corroborates Minister’s statement that he didn’t want to ‘leave it unattended in my vehicle in the parking lot,'” the statement reads.
Trade and Export Development Minister Jeremy Harrison. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
The email said Harrison walked past security carrying the gun case and went around the corner.
The acting sergeant-at-arms listed several reasons this situation was concerning to them.
They said the security staff should be informed ahead of time if something like that was going to happen so they could react properly.
That security should be able to take the gun away from staff and keep it in their office instead of them going through the building with it.
“There is no need for anyone to have a gun in this building under these circumstances,” read the email.
And that Harrison was wearing camouflage and a hat, so he wasn’t recognizable.
Harrison has said about the incident he described, that he didn’t want to leave his gun in his vehicle. Similarly, in this email, the acting sergeant-at-arms wrote that “in fairness,” Harrison likely didn’t want to leave the gun in his pickup.
“However, I thing (sic) that this was handled poorly by Mr. Harrison.”
The email finished by saying that Harrison planned to hunt coyotes with the Speaker that day, who at the time would have been Dan D’Autremont.
The acting Sergeant-at-Arms said in the email they had no problem approaching Harrison about it but thought it would be better handled by the person the email was sent to, which is unclear at this time.
