Twenty-five years after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, former Canadian transportation minister David Collenette is returning to Gander, N.L., to mark one of the defining moments of Canada’s response to 9/11.
On Sept. 11, 2001, 38 aircraft carrying some 6,500 passengers landed in the town of about 9,000 people. Across the following days, residents opened their homes, kitchens and community spaces to travellers stranded far from home.
Collenette will recount that morning at “Untold Stories,” an event at Gander International Airport ahead of a 9/11 commemoration on Friday. It is one of several Canadian observances honouring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks and the support offered to Americans in their darkest hours.
“We’re there for a solemn reason, but we’re also there to celebrate the goodwill of Canadians,” Collenette said. “It just showed that Canadians could all come together.”
The morning Canada closed its skies
Collenette was addressing an international gathering of airport executives in Montreal when an aide passed him a message that a tragedy had unfolded in the United States. He ended his speech and returned to Ottawa as news emerged that a third hijacked aircraft had struck the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth plane later crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
The United States shut its airspace, leaving aircraft unable to land. Collenette said roughly 500 planes were flying over the western North Atlantic at the time, carrying an estimated 85,000 people. One aircraft was entering Canadian airspace every 90 seconds.
Canadian officials faced an immediate and dangerous choice. About 270 planes were instructed to turn back across the Atlantic for Europe, while more than 230 needed to land quickly somewhere else.
“We had to make a decision on the spot,” Collenette said. “We had no hours. This was minutes.”
Atlantic Canada was well equipped for the emergency. Several Second World War-era airports possessed long runways capable of accommodating large transatlantic aircraft. Other planes were directed to major cities, including Montreal and Vancouver.
The cooperation between air traffic controllers, pilots, airport operators and government officials prevented a potentially catastrophic situation. Collenette said passengers and crews accepted routing instructions without resistance, even when they did not initially know where they would be landing.
“Nobody disputed the orders given by our air traffic controllers to return to Europe or to land in Gander, N.L., or Stephenville, N.L., or Moncton, N.B., or Halifax,” he said.
How Gander welcomed thousands of strangers
Gander’s role became the best-known story emerging from that day. Thirty-eight planes touched down in the town, leaving thousands of passengers unable to continue their journeys or return home.
The arrival nearly doubled Gander’s population. Hotels filled, restaurants prepared food and residents volunteered to house travellers. Community facilities became sleeping areas, while neighbours opened cupboards and fridges to feed people who had arrived with little more than the clothes they were wearing.
The support did not stop with airport staff. Across Canada, people donated money, food and supplies, while governments coordinated transportation and communications for passengers waiting to resume their journeys.
“And nobody at the time said, ‘Look, we got all these people, it’s gonna cost a lot of money,’” Collenette said. “That’s what the remarkable thing was. People … opened their homes. They opened their fridges. They cooked. They donated.”
Passengers remained in Gander for several days before flights resumed. For many, the experience transformed a sudden emergency into a lasting memory of Canadian hospitality. For the town, it established a global reputation built on compassion under extraordinary pressure.
Commemorations across Canada
The upcoming events in Gander form part of a wider pattern of remembrance across the country. Organisers are marking the lives lost on Sept. 11 while also recognising the swift and generous response from Canadians.
In Toronto, the U.S. Consulate is presenting “25 Years of Healing Hearts: A Tribute to 9/11 in Drawings.” The exhibition features pen-and-ink artwork created by Canadian artist John Coburn at Ground Zero and throughout New York City in the aftermath of the attacks.
On Friday, the Peace Arch border park in Surrey, B.C., will host a cross-border ceremony. Expected participants include New York police officers, a firefighter and a paramedic who served following the attacks. U.S. Homeland Security helicopters are also scheduled to fly overhead.
Organisers expect hundreds of Canadian and American first responders, military personnel and border officers to attend. Manitoba’s International Peace Garden will hold a separate memorial involving officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol and the Canada Border Services Agency, along with representatives from North Dakota Parks and Recreation and the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg.
The commemorations also reflect the broader consequences of 9/11. Canada’s military joined the international counter-terrorism effort and the war in Afghanistan, while relations between Canadians and Americans were tested and reinforced by the humanitarian response on the ground.
Why it Matters
Gander’s response to 9/11 endures because it shows what countries can
