U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra among dignitaries visiting Newfoundland for 25th anniversary of 9/11

U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra among dignitaries visiting Newfoundland for 25th anniversary of 9/11 DEVIN STEVENS GANDER, N.L. THE CANADIAN PRESS PUBLISHED YESTERDAY Open this photo in gallery: U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra participates in an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa in December, 2025. JUSTIN TANG/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra will be among the dignitaries heading to central Newfoundland this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The community of Gander has held a commemoration event every year since hosting thousands of stranded travellers after officials closed U.S. airspace and ground dozens of planes, said mayor Percy Farwell. He said the event is about commemorating the nearly 3,000 people who were killed when hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Center in New York and crashed into The Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. “We also acknowledge the connection that transpired with our little neck of the woods here and how meaningful that turned out to be,” Farwell said Tuesday. “(We were) responding to people that were in distress and needed a lot of life’s necessities like food and shelter. Mostly they needed love and compassion because it was a very distressing time.” America is really being a bad friend The town of about 9,500 people became forever linked to the 9/11 attacks when its airport took in 38 passenger planes carrying more than 6,500 travellers. The people of Gander rallied around what they called the “plane people,” converting schools and church halls into shelters and taking many travellers into their own homes while providing food, hot showers and more. The outpouring of support was recounted in the hit stage musical “Come From Away.” Cory Abbott, marketing manager for Steele Hotels, which operates four properties in Gander, says the town is pretty much booked solid for the commemoration. “We’ve been blocked-in there for a fair bit,” Abbott said in an interview Tuesday. “We did have some (rooms) available … but it’s really filled in, in the last month or so.” Dignitaries expected at the commemoration include Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour, former prime minister Jean Chrétien, Premier Tony Wakeham, Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson and Hoekstra. Hoekstra has caused controversy by criticizing the “elbows up”…