Thank You for all you have done for us....

[ripleysmom]

Sadly GWB's speech writers forgot to Thank You. Please acecpt my sincere thanks for going beyond the call of duty and allowing us to lean on you at such a terrible time!!!

 

[Teejay32]

Yes, from me too, I just realized that Canada was not mentioned specifically in his speech - wish it had been. We are truly grateful for all of your help.

 

[mickey65]

Thank you both! Although I do not thinkGWB did it intentionlly it did happen. It is nice to see that our DIS family cares!

 

[PhotobearSam]

I do think that Canada was ommited purposely and I agree with the reason for it.
Many Canadians like me beleive that our government should have done more. I know our military isn't the biggest but when somthing like this happens, we should offer ALL THE HELP WE CAN.

Taking in the diverted flights is something that each country has to do. This was not NICE of us, it was our DUTY as human beings.

We truly feel for the American people and we will do anything your Presidents ask us to do. If our government won't step up to the plate, we will put pressure on the governmant to do so.

Thank you so much for thinking to thank us during this horrific time. Our hearts and prayers go out to each and every one of you....

 

[Baboo]

Thank you for taking the time to come and post your thanks. I found it a little upsetting that we were not mentioned, but I know that Americans appreciate our common bond with them. I am glad that we can help in any way possible, and we will continue to do so in the time to come.

 

[LadyTrampScamp&Angel]

I have been very touched by the wonderful things Canadians did for us during this tragedy. My husband was in Sudbury Ontario when all this happened and a restaurant there even declined to let him pay for his dinner because they just wanted to do something nice for an American.

My husband is American by way of Canada, our last name is Papineau.

I have decided I really love Canada. We're going to do some vacationing up there!

Thanks again.

 

[DisFan2]

I hope that no one gets too upset at me for saying this, but I agree with you PhotoBearSam. To our American friends (and I should add that while I was born here, my parents are U.S. citizens), your President is not ignorant (as a poster on another similar thread claimed) nor insensitive. I do not believe we were snubbed at all. I invite you to take a look at an editorial from today's National Post, titled "If it walks like a friend, talks like a friend..." I have edited it for length, but I think you'll get the general idea.

"But Canadians should ask themselves why it is that Britain, an ocean away, is declared such a true friend to the United States in its hour of need. Why is it that U.S. presidents do not automatically think first of Canada despite our advantageous position sharing a continent, being each other's biggest trading partner, speaking the same language, and (in theory) sharing the same ideals.

The answer to these questions lies in 30 years of shabby Canadian foreign and defence policy. At the end of the 1960s, Canadian scholars became obsessed with the close links between Canadian and American foreign policy. In the nationalist mood of the times, any agreement between Canadian and U.S. foreign policy was deemed an affront to our identity. Canada needed an "independent" foreign policy, said academics, whether or not principle was sacrificed to achieve it. The United States did not get along well with Communist dictators such as Fidel Castro, so Ottawa, particularly under Pierre Trudeau, went out of its way to get cozy with the tyrant. The United States was viewed as a military hawk, so Canada had to be the dove. This attitude continues into the present. Our pitiful military is one sign. Another is Canada's decision to stay at the United Nations' ludicrous recent anti-racist conference in Durban, South Africa -- thereby lending gravitas to the loathsome anti-Semitism on display there -- when the United States rightly walked out.

Britain, by contrast, does what "true" friends do; it instinctively sides with Washington with both moral and practical support. Mr. Blair's government rallied to America's side immediately in the aftermath of Sept. 11 without parsing global responses first. British and U.S. intelligence operations work virtually as one unit, cooperating completely by sharing life-and-death information as blood brothers do. To that Mr. Blair can also supply a military that is well equipped, effective, and capable of providing strategic, tactical, and logistical support in the battle against terrorism.

When a U.S. president speaks of his country's friends around the world, Canada cannot expect to be singled out unless it does something to make itself stand out. And Liberal governments have for a generation made sure this country does not stand out as too close a friend of the superpower that is our neighbour. Americans, including Mr. Bush, have expressed their gratitude to those Canadians who opened their homes and their hearts to stranded U.S. travelers diverted or grounded here on Sept. 11. But a country cannot, in conscience, nurture a culture of petty xenophobic disdain toward its neighbour and then pretend it has been mistreated when the neighbour is not carefully effusive in its thanks."

The citizens of Canada did this country proud on Parliament Hill at the memorial ceremony on the 14th of September. Our politicians, however, have let us down.