Despite recent hostility between Canada and the U.S. on the trade front, many across Saskatchewan are recognizing the lives lost and the bravery displayed on one of America’s darkest days. Friday marks 25 years since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which saw 2,977 people perish when three hijacked airliners were flown into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. A fourth flight crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to retake control of the plane. In a post to social media, Premier Scott Moe memorialized the victims of the attacks, highlighting the 24 Canadians who died. “In those difficult days, the enduring friendship between Canada and the United States was felt in countless acts of kindness, as neighbours opened their homes and communities came together to help,” Moe wrote. “Twenty-five years later, we remember those lost that day and in the years that followed, and the families who continue to carry their memory.” The Regina Fire and Protective Services also issued a message of remembrance dedicated to the first responders who both risked and lost their lives on that fateful morning. When it all changed It was a regular Tuesday morning for many in Saskatchewan as they continued through their morning routines on Sept. 11, 2001. The relative calm was broken for many as they turned on their televisions and witnessed live images of the World Trade Centre in flames. One man born in Saskatchewan watched from across the street in Manhattan – telling CTV News workers only came to terms with the true scope of the event when the second plane collided with the South Tower. “That’s when we realized there was something very significant going on,” the witness noted. Another man told CTV News his brother worked at the World Trade Centre. Fortunately, he wasn’t inside at the time – he ran late for work due to car trouble. “Call it fate or call it a miracle. Call it what you want,” he said. Thousands of other families were not so lucky. Buildings across the province lowered flags to half mast out of respect for the lives lost. Saskatchewan’s premier at the time, Lorne Calvert, was in Ottawa that morning – meeting with then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien as news of the attacks began. “We too greeted the news, I think like most other citizens of Canada, it was a matter of disbelief, shock,” Calvert told reporters on Sept. 12, 2001. On board one of the planes was Lloydminster-born hockey scout Garnet ‘Ace’ Bailey – who was travelling in his role as a scout for the Los Angeles Kings that day. Another was Al Filipov, a 70-year-old electrical engineer who was born in Regina and had been living in the U.S. since 1962. In the days and weeks following the terrorist attacks, security would tighten at the Regina International Airport and at Saskatchewan’s land border crossings, leaving a feeling that the world had changed. “These attacks were an attack on all humanity,” Calvert said, addressing a crowd at the legislative building on Sept. 13, 2001. “Even these days after the catastrophic events, we have only begun to understand the impact and the consequences and the magnitude of our loss.”
