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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
The 440 Squadron base commander already knew something bad had happened in New York City that morning. A base technician told him a Lear Jet had crashed into the World Trade Centre. A horrible prospect but not unbelievable considering how tall the centre's twin towers stood over the Manhattan skyline.
He had heard murmurs of a terrorist attack, and jets being grounded, but it was not until he stepped outside that it dawned on him that whatever was happening there was having an immediate impact here.
"I stepped out onto the ramp and it was dead quiet," Archer recalls. "You could hear birds singing, not something you can normally do around this airport. At that point I turned around and came back in, and that's when I turned the TV on."
The U.S. had closed its air space and all flights in Canada were grounded.
Terrorists had hijacked four passenger jet planes, and turned them into bombs.
Both of the World Trade Centre's towers were destroyed. The Pentagon was on fire, and another jet lay burning in a field outside of Pittsburgh, Penn.
For Yellowknife residents, like nearly everyone else in the world by 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the horror they were witnessing live on TV seemed far away from home.
But that was about to change very quickly.
Not only did passengers find themselves stranded under the no-fly quarantine at Yellowknife airport, but it was soon learned that as many as two jet planes were being diverted here from their original U.S. destinations.
"As it turned out we only had the one United (Airlines) Boeing 777 come in," says Archer.
The 440 Squadron hangar was quickly converted into a makeshift customs and receiving area for the 144 passengers and 16 crew aboard flight 876, many of them tourists from Japan heading to Seattle, Wash.
"They were in a lot of shock," says Yellowknife Health and Social Services board CEO Al Woods. "What we found out is they wanted to be glued to the TV and just watch what was going on in the States."
The plane's occupants were ferried over to the Department of National Defence's Forward Operating Location site where they would spend the next three days waiting out the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11.
Banding together
Mayor Gord Van Tighem said not only does it still amaze him how quickly the city banded together to provide its guests comfort during their ordeal, but in reaching out to the terrorist attack victims as well.
"The reaction of the community was one thing that made you really appreciate being here," says Van Tighem.
"There was such a positive response that we actually had to turn some people and donations away."
A memorial service for the victims was held a few days later at City Hall, organized by a 17-year-old high school student, Nancy MacNeill, who felt an overwhelming need to do something in light of the tragedy. She graduated this year, and is currently travelling abroad.
The Yellowknife Fire Department also broke local fundraising efforts by hosting a carwash that attracted a lineup for several blocks, and raised over $40,000 for the families of police and emergency personnel killed in the collapse of the World Trade Centre.
"Our hearts were broken," says local firefighter Ed Hardy. "We understood the impact there, what loss they (New York firefighters) had."
The Fire Department was to hold a brief memorial service this morning at 7:45 a.m. to commemorate those who lost their lives trying save others at the World Trade Centre.
The Airport fire crew also planned to recognize the New York emergency personnel with two minutes of silence at 10 a.m.
A year later, Yellowknife Centre MLA Jake Ootes said he, too, was impressed by the way the city pulled together, but worries about the ramifications of Sept. 11.
Climate of fear
"I hope people are respectful of other religions," says Ootes.
"Just because there are some radical maniacs out there doesn't mean everybody is that way."
A climate of fear is still very much alive in North America, says Ootes. He was disheartened to hear that Yellowknife's only mosque was vandalized following the Sept. 11 attack.
Yusuf Hashi, president and imam for the Yellowknife Islamic Centre, says many of the city's 60-70 strong Muslim community were concerned how they would be viewed after the terrorist attacks.
Thankfully, life goes on, especially in Yellowknife, far away from the war on terror.
"I travelled all the way from Africa here," says Hashi. " I know what the travel will do. The more you know about other people, the easier it is to understand, and if the people know about Islam they will know it is very peaceful."
