How did 9-11 affect Canada?

Answer 1

24 Canadians were killed, or missing and presumed dead, due to the attack on the World Trade Centre. Three others who were born in Canada and later took American citizenship were also killed, their friends and families now also becoming victims. Studies have been done which say that victims of the attack may be subject to mental illness, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Families of the deceased, witnesses, and survivors are all at risk of getting PTSD, along with depression, and general anxiety disorder.

But there's more to every tragedy than just death. The Bank Of Nova Scotia had chosen the World Trade Centre, building #4, specifically, to be it's resting place of their gold and silver, valued around $200 million. There was also gold and silver being stored there for Comex. With the Bank Of Nova Scotia's metals along with Comex's, it is approximated there was around $1 million.. 30 firefighters and police officers helped move the metals from the vault into two separate Brinks trucks.

Transport Canada, a section of the government which develops regulations, rules, and services of transportation in Canada, set up Operation Yellow Ribbon after the American Federal Aviation Administration grounded all aircraft across the United States, disallowing any incoming aircraft to land on American soil. FAA worked with Transport Canada to redirect incoming planes into Canada. 255 aircraft were sent to 17 different Canadian airports, on top of the regular traffic Canada receives. So what does this mean for the redirected flights? Thousands of stranded passengers had to be housed and fed until the crisis was over. Prime minister Jean Chrétien said "many of them have been accommodated in hotels and schools and gymnasiums and so on. And the Canadian authorities and provincial authorities are working... (to make their visitors) in those places as comfortable as possible." On September 11th, 2002, the first anniversary of the attack, he also had this to say "9/11 will live long in memory as a day of terror and grief. But thanks to the countless acts of kindness and compassion done for those stranded visitors here in Gander and right across Canada it will live forever in memory as a day of comfort and of healing" and closed his speech by commending Operation Yellow Ribbon, "You did yourselves proud, ladies and gentlemen, and you did Canada proud."

Canada-America relations went through a rough stage when Montana Senator Conrad Burns stated "the people who first hit us in 9/11 entered this country from Canada." He was referring to his theory that some of the 19 attackers of the Sept 11th attack had entered America from the porous border between Montana and Alberta. He's not the only member of the American government to share this view. Sharron Angle, a Nevada Republican, has also made similar statements, along with former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Napolitano has even gone so far as to say that terrorists routinely enter America through Canada. The Canadian embassy has been trying to dispel these claims for years with little success. However, there have been some retractions from some people, mainly due to the pressure caused by the embassy. But it's difficult to completely destroy the idea that it's possible for terrorists to enter America from Canada.

Due to the paranoia and legitimate fear of another terrorist attack, and the inability to dismantle the theory that the terrorists entered America from the Canadian border, "the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency started to patrol the North Dakota-Manitoba border with ...a fleet of unmanned aerial reconnaissance vehicles" which cost about $10 million apiece. But their cautiousness is also directly affecting commuters going through the border, not only our civil rights being constantly watched by the UAVs. When crossing the border, you only needed to show your birth certificate or divers license and have a short conversation with the border guard. Canadians citizens will now be required to show one of three documents: a Canadian passport, a NEXUS card, for frequent travellers, or a Canadian driver's licence with a computer chip in it, "...in the process of being made available in four provinces [Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Manitoba]". The enhanced drivers license will emit a signal which broadcasts personal data, which is picked up by the scanning devices at the border (see appendices three). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says they want to "thicken" the Canada-U.S. Border. The border security is also now permitted to do closer inspections, and allowed the use of tracking technology to watch the movement of goods and people for longer distances.

But America's harassment isn't the only negativity to come out of 9/11. Not by far. There's been countless hate crimes on Muslims, and other ethnic groups which look similar, people subject to racial profiling. Canadian citizens of Muslim decent, or of the Islamic faith, have been the victims of hate crimes, especially since the 9/11 suicide bombings. There are those few Canadian citizens who assume everyone in a turban is wearing a vest full of explosives and is planning to blow something up. Obviously this ridiculous, but the 9/11 attacks brought out the worse of some people. Innocent people have become victims at the hands of people assuming them to be related to the World Trade Centre attack. It's pure lack of education and racism.

On October 7th, 2001, the President of the United States Of America at the time, George W. Bush, announced that the American military started bombing al Qaeda military camps in Afghanistan, an attempt "...to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations, and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime." The war is headed by America and Great Britain, but they are most definitely not the only countries fighting. Canada has sacrificed 154 men and women to support Washington's war against terror. Originally, Canada was only committed to stay until October 2003. 2011 now, Canada is still there. Their current role, however, is mainly to train the Afghan police and military, and is strictly non-combat. Prime Minster Stephen Harper said "By 2011, we will have been in Kandahar, which is probably the toughest province in the country, for six years. Not only have we done our bit at that point, I think our goal has to be after six years to see the government of Afghanistan able to carry the lion's share of responsibility for its own security. At that point, the mission, as we've known it, we intend to end."