G4S’s Taillon responds to Alberta tragedy

I am Jean Taillon, President and CEO of G4S in Canada. I am sure you will understand that we will not be taking questions today, as our focus remains on supporting continuing investigations, our employees here in Edmonton and the victims’ families.

I cannot begin to describe the shock and grief that the G4S family is still feeling after the tragic events of Friday. We lost three valued team members and another remains in critical condition in hospital. Our thoughts and prayers remain with their families and friends and we will continue to do everything we can to help and support them through this difficult time. Our thoughts are also with the Baumgartner family.

As I am sure you are aware, there are many matters to be reviewed in the aftermath of Friday’s shooting. We continue to work closely with the Edmonton Police Service, and again I would like to thank the EPS, US Customs & Border Protection, the RCMP and all the other law enforcement agencies who assisted in the capture of Travis Baumgartner this weekend. In addition to the police investigation, we have flown in our security experts as part of G4S’s internal investigation. This is standard practice for any major incident. We do this to review all aspects of the incident, determine if there are lessons to be learned, and if there are, we implement changes to help prevent a recurrence.  

I would also like to remind everybody that a fund has been established in support of the victims’ families.  Donations can be made at any TD Bank Branch. Donations should be marked “the families of the victims of the University of Alberta Edmonton Shooting.” More on this fund can be found on G4S Canada’s web site: www.g4s.ca.

Finally, I would like to comment on the huge outpouring of support we have had from our employees, customers, the industry and the community in general. The condolences we have received across our business are truly appreciated.