CANADIAN lawmakers have struck a defiant tone as they held their first meetings since a gunman charged into the Parliament building after shooting dead a soldier in an attack that raised questions about the nation's low-key approach to security.

Members of Parliament headed back to meeting rooms where some of them hid a week ago during a gun battle between security officers and an attacker, who was described as a recent convert to Islam who struggled with drug addiction.

David Christopherson, a member of the House of Commons representing Hamilton, Ontario, the home town of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, who was shot dead in last week's attack in Ottawa, said: "There are some jitters, there's nervousness. We are only human.

"No-one is going to stop us and nothing is going to stop us and I'm going to rely on the professionals to do their jobs."

Speaking on his way to the meeting of the opposition New Democratic Party, he added: "I am going to walk back in the room and pick up where we left off last week and do the people's business."

The attack, and an incident two days earlier in which a man rammed two soldiers with his car near Montreal, killing one, came during a week in which Canada sent warplanes to take part in air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised policy decisions will not be affected by the attacks at home.

Security officials have called for legislation making it easier for courts to limit suspects' right to travel and lowering the barriers faced by investigators seeking to monitor suspects' internet and phone records.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay said: "There are many lessons learned, and I think there has been an incredible national reflection on the events of last week as to what we need to do from a security standpoint, not only physically in the House of Commons but across the country."

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, the 32-year-old who carried out the Ottawa attack, and 25-year-old Martin Rouleau, who hit the soldiers with his car near Montreal, appear to have acted independently of one another.

Officials described both men as homegrown radicals and warned attacks such as theirs, carried out with minimal planning, posed a "serious" threat to the nation's security.

Both men were shot dead by security officers.

Mr MacKay said the government should consider what to do about internet messages that glorify such attacks, which he said could lead to "the poisoning of young minds".

A group of officials charged with protecting privacy rights urged lawmakers to ensure any new measures take an "evidence-based" approach.

The Privacy and Information Commissioners of Canada said: "We acknowledge security is ­essential to maintaining our democratic rights. At the same time, the response to such events must be measured and proportionate and crafted so as to preserve our democratic values."

Mr Harper has delayed a trip to China in the wake of the attacks, so he can be at home for Remembrance Day on November 11.

Security at the Parliament building was somewhat tighter yesterday than it had been a week ago, with guards carrying firearms near the front door through which Zehaf-Bibeau ran after killing Corporal Cirillo.