Canadian Prime Minister Chretien's Speech
September 16th In Ottawa, Canada....
The day of mourning was called
to honour the memory of the
thousands of people --
Americans, Canadians and others --
who lost their lives Tuesday
in the suicide airplane attacks
that brought down the towers of
the World Trade Center in New York,
demolished part of the Pentagon
and crashed a plane in Pennsylvania.
Foreign Affairs officials
say between 60 and 100 Canadian
citizens are still unaccounted for,
but so far only two deaths
have been confirmed.
Mr. Chretien said Canadians
of every faith and nationality
were assembled at memorial services
across the country, united in outrage,
grief, compassion and resolve to maintain the
North American way of life.
"Even when we weep for our own dead,
the message we send to our American
friends is equally clear:
Do not lose courage.
You are not alone in this.
We are with you.
The entire world is with you,"
Mr. Chretien said.
"As your fellow Americans grieve
and rebuild, there will be no silence
from Canada.
Our friendship has no limits.
Generation after generation
we have travelled many difficult
miles together side by side.
We have lived through many dark times,
always firm in our shared resolve to
vanquish any threat to freedom and justice,
and together with our allies we will defy and
defeat the threat that terrorism poses to all
civilized nations."
"Mr. Ambassador, we will be with
the United States every step of the way,
as friends, as neighbours, as family."
"You truly are our closest friends,"
Prime Minister Of Canada, Mr Chretien
Ottawa Citizen
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