Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Kugluktuk (Apr 22/02) - Dan Harvey's phone rang at 4:50 a.m. last Thursday. His son, Tommy, was on the other end. He had two minutes to say he was OK.

A little later, his phone rang again. Then again. And a few more times, too. Calls from people he didn't know. One was an elder who didn't speak English very well.

"Mr. Harvey, is this you? I'm calling to find out how our son is."

The night before, Harvey's daughter had told him four Canadian soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan by an American bomb.

The dead were members of the Third Battalion of the Princess Patricia's light infantry. Pte. Tommy Harvey serves with the division, which is based in Kandahar.

But Dan Harvey wasn't filled with dread. "I was quite certain he was OK," he says. "I felt quite assured that if something had happened to my son, that I would know about it, that I would feel it."

His premonitions proved accurate when Tommy called. His words were simple -- and layered with relief: "I'm fine, dad. Everything's OK. I just wanted you to know."

Across Canada, people have linked hearts and lowered flags in mourning the deaths of the dead, the first Canadians to die in an offensive combat operation since the Korean war.

U.S. and Canadian officials are conducting several investigations on the "friendly fire" incident.