CBC News has details about the cellphone video made by Michael Zehaf-Bibeau before he shot a soldier and stormed Parliament Hill on Oct. 22.

The video is to be shown to MPs at the public safety committee at a special meeting on Friday.

The video, whose existence was first acknowledged by the RCMP four days after the Oct. 22 shooting, is short — less than a minute long, sources tell CBC News, and was recorded on a cellphone.

The Ottawa Citizen was reporting Wednesday evening that it was filmed in the front seat of Zehaf-Bibeau's car in the moments before his attacks. Sources told CBC News the cellphone was not found on his body.

In the video, Zehaf-Bibeau gives his reasons for attacking Parliament, including a reference to Canada's foreign policy and to Canadian Forces in Muslim countries.

At the time, Canadian Forces trainers were in Iraq and the House had voted in support of Canada joining the air bombing campaign. Canada had also been a key participant in the air campaign against Libya, the homeland of Zehaf-Bibeau's father and a country to which the Parliament Hill shooter had long expressed a desire to return.

The decision to release the video was made by RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, sources tell CBC News.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday he had not seen the video, but sources tell CBC News the prime minister has been briefed on its contents.

"I have not seen the video, but I think Canadians are well aware — not just because of the Oct. 22 attacks but because of what they can see around the world — that unfortunately the threat of terrorism, violent jihadism, is very real," Harper said.