More than 19,000 students are being evacuated from all public schools on Prince Edward Island because of what police say is a “potential threat.”
RCMP say staff are taking students at more than 60 English and French schools to safe locations outside the schools, where buses are meeting them.
“School emergency evacuation plans have been activated,” the RCMP said in a statement.
They say parents are asked to wait for further instructions to pick up their children once the facilities are cleared under their safe plan procedures.
The Island’s main university has shut as well.
“The University of Prince Edward Island is closing for the day effective immediately,” it said on Facebook this morning.
Parker Grimmer, director of public schools for the Island’s board, says police contacted the board this morning about “a threat that was of a significant nature” and asked for the evacuation of all schools.
Three schools in Nova Scotia — NSCC Marconi Campus, Cape Breton University and the NSCC technology campus in Halifax — have also been evacuated due to potential threats.