Partisanship fell by the wayside this week as people of all political stripes reacted with solidarity and shows of patriotism in the wake of the shooting tragedy in Ottawa.
The turn of events that saw soldier Nathan Cirillo killed at the National War Memorial, followed by more gunfire inside the Parliament building itself, took place Wednesday morning as a government caucus meeting was underway inside.
While the exact whereabouts of agriculture minister and Battlefords-Lloydminster MP Gerry Ritz was not disclosed during the crisis, it was confirmed on Twitter by Jeff English of his office that Ritz was not in harm's way.
"Minister Ritz is in a safe location," the Tweet stated that morning.
At various events this past week in the Battlefords, people reflected on the situation in Ottawa.
Wednesday night at the Dekker Centre in North Battleford, speakers at a CUPE town hall meeting on P3 plans for Saskatchewan Hospital made known their emotions about what transpired.
Moderator Len Taylor noted the time he spent in Ottawa as an MP and in other capacities.
"The public service represented Canadians very well in Ottawa today dealing with this tragedy," said Taylor, who went on to pay tribute to the soldier who died.
"On behalf of all of us our hearts and minds are with the family of the young 24-year old who lost his life today."
Another of the speakers, Maude Barlow, noted Ottawa was her home.
Barlow said she had "four grandkids in lockdown at schools today, and I was a basket case most of the day - not worrying about them, because I know they were safe, but worrying about what they were thinking and what they were feeling about what they were being told. I don't want this violence in my country, I don't want this violence in my city."
She expressed her desire to "hold on to this idea of civil society, civilization, coming together as a community and saying 'I don't just care about myself and my family, I care about you, too.'"
In Regina that afternoon, the opening of the fall sitting of the Legislature and reading of the Speech from the Throne took a back seat to the Ottawa situation.
Security was ramped up and the Throne Speech went ahead on schedule, despite what happened in the national capital.
Saturday night at a Saskatchewan Party local riding fundraiser held at Alex Dillabough Centre in Battleford, provincial minister of education Don Morgan paid tribute to the armed forces and to the "great people that we have protecting us every day in the legislature."
He called it "a strange time that we live in right now."
"Terrorism has come to our country, and we'll never be the same."
Battlefords MLA Herb Cox was emotional as he referred to the "terrible day in Ottawa."
He said the decision was made to go ahead with the Throne Speech "because that's a tradition, and it's a tradition nobody's going to stop."
Cox also paid tribute to "all of the servicemen, all of the RCMP, all of the police across this country who do such a great job for us."
At that point, he invited Al White to present the colours of the Canadian flag on stage, and everyone at the fundraiser stood and joined in the singing of O Canada.
