{"id":192235,"date":"2026-09-02T04:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T04:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/192235\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T04:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T04:31:09","slug":"u-s-ambassador-pete-hoekstra-among-dignitaries-visiting-newfoundland-for-25th-anniversary-of-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/192235\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra among dignitaries visiting Newfoundland for 25th anniversary of 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra participates in an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa in December, 2025.Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra will be among the dignitaries heading to central Newfoundland this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

The community of Gander has held a commemoration event every year since hosting thousands of stranded travellers after officials closed U.S. airspace and ground dozens of planes, said mayor Percy Farwell.<\/p>\n

He said the event is about commemorating the nearly 3,000 people who were killed when hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Center in New York and crashed into The Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also acknowledge the connection that transpired with our little neck of the woods here and how meaningful that turned out to be,\u201d Farwell said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201c(We were) responding to people that were in distress and needed a lot of life\u2019s necessities like food and shelter. Mostly they needed love and compassion because it was a very distressing time.\u201d<\/p>\n

America is really being a bad friend<\/a><\/p>\n

The town of about 9,500 people became forever linked to the 9\/11 attacks when its airport took in 38 passenger planes carrying more than 6,500 travellers. The people of Gander rallied around what they called the \u201cplane people,\u201d converting schools and church halls into shelters and taking many travellers into their own homes while providing food, hot showers and more. The outpouring of support was recounted in the hit stage musical \u201cCome From Away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cory Abbott, marketing manager for Steele Hotels, which operates four properties in Gander, says the town is pretty much booked solid for the commemoration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been blocked-in there for a fair bit,\u201d Abbott said in an interview Tuesday. \u201cWe did have some (rooms) available \u2026 but it\u2019s really filled in, in the last month or so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dignitaries expected at the commemoration include Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour, former prime minister Jean Chr\u00e9tien, Premier Tony Wakeham, Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson and Hoekstra.<\/p>\n

Hoekstra has caused controversy by criticizing the \u201celbows up\u201d campaign against U.S. tariffs and by expressing irritation with Canadians\u2019 response to U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s rhetoric about making the country the 51st state. Tens of thousands of Canadians have signed a petition asking the federal government to kick Hoekstra out of the country and request his removal as ambassador.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Hoekstra said the 9\/11 attacks left a lasting mark on him and the United States, with the people of Newfoundland showing what community really means during a dark time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn this 25th anniversary, I am returning to say a heartfelt thank you not just on behalf of those who were stranded, but for an entire nation that remains moved by Gander\u2019s generosity. I look forward to meeting many of those who opened their hearts and homes and honouring the enduring bond built that week,\u201d the ambassador said.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Canadian and U.S. flags are lowered to half-mast at a commemorative ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the U.S., in Gander, N.L., on Sept. 11, 2002.ANDREW VAUGHAN\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Farwell said there\u2019s no question that it\u2019s a delicate time in the Canada-U.S. relationship, but the events in Gander 25 years ago are outside the realm of trade policy and politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe humanity of what happened here, I think that rises above the political discussions and all the other sabre rattling,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully this is a bit bigger than all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farwell said the town holds an event every Sept. 10 to share stories that have not yet been featured in books, films or other media. This year\u2019s list of speakers include David Collenette, who was Canada\u2019s minister of transportation in 2001 and helped oversee Operation Yellow Ribbon, Canada\u2019s emergency response to help safely land 200 diverted aircraft and care for the people on board.<\/p>\n

Gander\u2019s arena will host the formal ceremony on Sept. 11 with speeches by dignitaries and musical performances by Newfoundland artists including the Ennis Sisters and Great Big Sea\u2019s Alan Doyle. The facility can usually accommodate 2,000 people, but Farwell said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if 2,500 crammed in.<\/p>\n

An invite-only performance of \u201cCome From Away\u201d for dignitaries is also planned.<\/p>\n

Farwell said the community was nervous at first about people writing a musical about \u201cwhat we described as a bunch of people making sandwiches,\u201d but is proud of the role Gander played.<\/p>\n

He said he is sometimes contacted by U.S. students on Zoom who weren\u2019t alive at the time, looking to learn about what happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Canadians, and Atlantic Canadians and Newfoundlanders, the more isolated you get, the more dependent on each other, historically, we have been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we tend to understand that (if) someone\u2019s got a problem, it\u2019s everybody\u2019s job to help them fix it. And so that\u2019s certainly true of our culture here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra participates in an interview at the U.S.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,361],"class_list":["post-192235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-pleasemod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}