9/11

2026/09/11 2 Comments

25 years ago, I was working in the LA consulate, waking up to the attack and glued to the TV to follow events, sending local staff hope while Canadian-based staff worked on various consular and related issues in a very uncertain context.

Driving to the downtown consulate, the 101 was deserted, a 10 minute drive rather than more typical 30 minutes or so.

And when air traffic slowly restarted, worrying about the few aircraft in the air.

Gradually, things “returned” to a new normal.

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with

Unknown's avatarAbout Andrew
Andrew blogs and tweets public policy issues, particularly the relationship between the political and bureaucratic levels, citizenship and multiculturalism. His latest book, Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias, recounts his experience as a senior public servant in this area.

2 Responses to 9/11

  1. Raphael Solomon's avatar Raphael Solomon says:
    2026/09/11 at 08:07

    25 years ago, I was a graduate student in Columbus, Ohio. I didn’t have any classes that morning: I was doing dissertation work and wasn’t teaching that day either. I went to pick up a piece of furniture at a restorer and came back home to have breakfast. Out of habit, I turned on CNN whilst I ate.

    I was watching live when the second plane hit. Not 30 minutes later, I got an email from the Department Chair. The University was locked down; do not come to campus. Campus was pretty empty anyways, because it was between the academic quarters.

    A few hours later, I got the most scary news of all. The Canada-US land border was closed, with no announced time to reopen it. I was trapped. To be sure, I had no immediate plans to go back to Canada, even for a visit. But I couldn’t shake that trapped feeling. Forget about working on the dissertation; I was glued to the 16 inch color TV in my living room.

    Later that day, I got together with some friends and we all talked about what we had seen and heard. It gave me a calmer feeling. I was 500 miles from Washington, even further from New York. But what a day. And there is now an entire generation of people alive who never experienced it.

    Reply
    • Andrew's avatar Andrew says:
      2026/09/11 at 08:22

      Thanks for sharing. One of the main focus of the consulate was responding to Canadians stuck in the USA and wanting understandably to go back home. Our advice was to wait until the border would re-open, but we all understood the urge to return. Which you felt but had a group of friends that helped. Our kids were about 7 and 9 at the time and will be chatting with them what they remember.

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.