Police action at Ubisoft
Police are at Ubisoft on the Main where, allegedly, an armed man has hostages on the roof.
I was out doing a few errands in Villeray a few minutes ago when half a dozen police vehicles screamed past going southward. Now I know why.
(One of my errands was getting a flu shot. As she administered it, the nurse emphasized to me that this was a flu shot, and I said – politely, but with a query in my voice – oui, je sais? And she said an awful lot of people who came in seemed to think they would be getting a Covid vaccine.)
Update: All reports say the hostage call was a hoax.
Later, CTV adds that the Montreal General was put on pre-Code Orange and told to get ready for incoming wounded. One nurse is quoted as saying the last time a Code Orange was called was during the Dawson shooting.
Meezly 16:30 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
I heard it might be a swat attempt.
Bill Binns 16:37 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
Smells like swat as Meezly said. Ubi is in the middle of a big game release. They may have caused nerd rage regarding that. Hopefully the guys in the armored assault wagon are considering that as one of the possibilities.
I read that the people on the roof are just employees who are hiding there by barricading the one door that leads up there, not hostages.
walkerp 16:51 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
What’s the game release?
Kate 16:52 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
TVA is saying it was a prank.
Apparently some guys are mad that the latest Assassin’s Creed (Valhalla) has a female character option?
Hamza 18:03 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
If you know anything about gamergate you know it’s totally within the parameters of a really obsessive, hateful, vengeance-driven gamer to call in a fake-SWAT (it’s such a common tactic that they’ve given it the name Swatting) .
What really annoys me is that the SPVM was so slow with re-assuring the public . Half the city and even internationally ALOT of people were freaked out before they finally bothered confirming it was a hoax.
I guess the lack of ambulances should’ve been a giveaway
Kate 18:14 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
Hamza, two ambulances were among the emergency vehicles I noticed.
Tim S. 19:16 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
Ubisoft people can’t work from home? I suppose they need powerful computers and are paranoid about secure connections, but I hope this isn’t another example of them abusing their employees and being above the rules everybody else is playing by.
dhomas 19:21 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
I have a friend who works at Ubisoft. I checked in with her when I heard the news to make sure she was ok. She is indeed working from home, so not everyone has to go into the office all the time.
Also, regarding police communication, it’s pretty difficult to confirm it to be a hoax. It’s a big building that they likely needed to search in its entirety before confirming without a doubt that there was no one armed inside. Takes time.
CE 20:22 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
My high school used to get bomb scares all the time. Like 20 a year, once we even had two in one day. This happened year after year. Even though the school admin and all the students knew it was a hoax, we’d all have to evacuate and wait for the bomb squad and fire department to sweep the entire building. Usually took about 2 1/2 hours.
Kevin 21:40 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
There are also lots of people upset about the sexual harassment at Ubisoft.
Blork 22:59 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
I suspect the kind of people who are upset about sexual harassment are not the kind of people who would phone in bomb threats. Rather, the kind of people who phone in bomb threats are ones who have affinity with the people who conduct sexual harassment. #gamergate
Kate 23:49 on 2020-11-13 Permalink
The Guardian piece about the incident says normally 4000 people are working there. That must mean all of Ubisoft. Four thousand people couldn’t possibly all work at the Peck building.
A 00:03 on 2020-11-14 Permalink
They have a few buildings around the mile end, there are about 4000 staff in Montreal. Nearly all the staff are work from home but some can use the office under strict hygiene conditions if they need / want to
JS 08:16 on 2020-11-14 Permalink
I live around the corner and watched all afternoon through binoculars. By a little before 5 pm they were still releasing employees in dribs and drabs, and some of them weren’t wearing coats, and only a couple of the 30 or so army-looking & swat-style cops had come out. A few hours later some streets were still blocks and the Mad Max vehicle that brought the army-looking cops was still parked out front. This was all hours after it was declared a hoax.
DeWolf 13:03 on 2020-11-14 Permalink
4,000 employees in Mile End is why half the neighbourhood feels like the Ubisoft staff cafeteria (or at least it did before Covid).
CE 13:13 on 2020-11-14 Permalink
I had that same feeling during a summer night when I was looking for a dep on St-Viateur before meeting with a friend nearby. There’s only one tiny dep left, the rest of the street felt like a high-end outdoor food court for the tech worker lunch crowd.