Halifax thanked for opening homes
A small gathering in a hangar at Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Saturday marked 20 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and included a thank you from Canada's southern neighbour.
Against a backdrop of airport and Halifax regional fire trucks parked outside, speakers remembered the attacks and Halifax's role in looking after the more than 7,000 people on 40 planes who were diverted to Nova Scotia after the U.S. closed its air space in the wake of the attacks.
The U.S. deputy consul general in Halifax, Daniel Bingham-pankratz, said the way Halifax and Atlantic Canada as a whole responded “provided the world with an example of how communities can care about and welcome strangers as if they were family.”
When displaced passengers arrived in the region, most were weary, confused and scared, Bingham-pankratz said.
“Across Atlantic Canada, you greeted your guests with warm hands, comforting words, and clean clothes. You opened your churches, your community centres, and even your homes to offer a warm place to stay.”
He said more than 40 per cent of the people diverted to Halifax were housed in private homes.
Bingham-pankratz also noted that people who had helped with passengers also offered assistance to hurricane Katrina victims in 2005, and that Nova Scotians ran in Point Pleasant Park in April 2013 to show unity with runners in the Boston Marathon after bombs went off at that event.
“Time and time again when my country has been the victim of tragedy, Haligonians have shown up and helped,” he said. “On behalf of the United States government and the American people, I am proud to be here to say thank you.”
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Brad Johns, who was a Halifax regional councillor in 2001, told the gathering of about three dozen people that while many travellers arrived in Halifax not knowing the city or anyone in it, “lasting bonds were formed, and our guests left as friends.”
He said the day brought out the best of Nova Scotians, who offered up their homes when emergency accommodations ran out, and who volunteered at many of those shelters.
“They say that crisis reveals the true character of a person, and in those days 20 years ago, the character of our people made us very proud,” Johns said. “When the world needed us most, Nova Scotians were there.”
While Saturday was a solemn day of remembrance, he said, “it is also a day to express our gratitude to everyone who answered the call on that day.”
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said that in the immediate wake of the attacks, “when we were questioning everything we knew about the world, we still did what we could to help our neighbours: meals, transportation and a safe place to lay their heads.”
He said Halifax's response to the attacks “is a reminder that we're made of good stuff, that we're resilient, and kind, and capable of reaching across cultures, faiths and ideologies to find the truths of who we are as people.”