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In response to 9/11, Canada launched Operation Yellow Ribbon diverting 255 American flights to Canada to which citizens voluntarily housed thousands of Americans
interestingasfuck | by /u/FearlessTimx | 113 comments | 2026-09-05T21:45:02+00:00 Central
Comments
| /u/No_Safe_Word69 Yeah my parents housed a guy from Chicago. He bought us presents which was really nice and I remember I accidentally took his toothbrush to a sleep over with a friend. He ended up sending Christmas cards for a while after, then lost touch. |
| /u/No_Criticism_5861 Honestly, even getting a couple of xmas cards is nice, seems like they were grateful |
| /u/No_Safe_Word69 Oh yeah, the presents he bought me and my sibling, while he was staying with us, were not cheap either. Super memorable, I was around 8 years old and didn't really fully understand 9/11 or why this guy was staying with us in the moment. |
| /u/enderforlife It's almost like they're our reasonable neighbors and we shouldn't be in an economic trade war with them. |
| /u/Nannyphone7 If you can't get along with Canada, maybe diplomacy is not your thing. Trump is profoundly incompetent, as well as profoundly corrupt. |
| /u/Druken_sincerity Trump is just trump , a fucking pedophile and rapist. But the worst in all of this, its his supporters and followers. They see this shit and they say "yes" |
| /u/Yeetse Idk i still think actually being a pedophile and rapist is worse than just being stupid. |
| /u/Queef_Latifa9 Trump is just the symptom of the American Disease. Don't think for a second this shit goes away once Trump is gone. Trump is America no matter which way you cut it. |
| /u/Possible_Tie5799 Exactly, he is a feature of the american system not a bug and many people will try to replace him and his rhetoric once he is gone. Some of them even worse and more vile then he is. |
| /u/Rflood46 Exactly because the next one will be evil AND competent |
| /u/Phreakdoubt Been sayin' that since Dubya. It wasn't him I was afraid of when his admin engineered a police state to fight the GWOT, it was the guys down the road who see the cracks and have a plan. |
| /u/tempest_87 The authoritarian desease is worldwide. We are just suffering an acute and severe case. Do what you can to stay healthy wherever you are. |
| /u/Druken_sincerity I argue the fact that, it's fucking crazy to see a child rapist and support him. It's much worse id say |
| /u/pinniped90 Racism is a powerful drug. They're willing to overlook everything else for that. |
| /u/xteve Also, we underestimate the importance to Christians of controlling reproductive freedom. Churches will preach and vote GOP for this one culture-war fight, and it's clear that no evil Republican behavior will deter them from doing so. |
| /u/twunkypunk He's a symptom of the disease |
| /u/vanimpes69 One of the first things he said (and lied about) after 911 was, "I guess I have the tallest building now" |
| /u/OtisPan If you can't get along with Canada I feel like this was mentioned recently |
| /u/Goose-Suit Diplomacy isn't Trump's goal it's submission. He wants Canada as his 51st state so they can raze the natural resources. |
| /u/doc_daneeka Then that's just one more demonstration that he's a complete moron. There's no even slightly realistic way to ever have us legally join the US as a state owing to the way our constitution works. The only way to have that happen is conquest and annexation. |
| /u/BEWMarth A third of Americans are still celebrating the way he has destroyed our country. THATS the real issue we won't change even when he's gone. That third will find a new leader to cower beneath. |
| /u/fcocyclone A third are celebrating and another third are too apathetic or ignorant to care that its happening even when informed Our electorate is broken. |
| /u/-lovehate The premier of British Columbia recently said this: "I feel sorry for Americans. If you can't be friends with Canada, then you almost certainly do not have a friend anywhere in the world. And that is a very lonely place to be." |
| /u/kitsunewarlock maybe diplomacy is not your thing. This is why he was voted in. The right has become so "anti-elitist" and "apolitical" that they put the most incompetent people in charge of a government they want to see dismantled, and corporations are more than happy to spend a pittance to help save themselves tens of millions in regulations and then fight over the vacuum of power left behind when government services shut down. |
| /u/Elegant_Situation285 it's hard not to think he's actively and consciously sabotaging the U.S. it's so targetted and damaging. it started at the U.S. State Dept. |
| /u/doc_daneeka The key question is: if a president really did want to wreck America's position in the world and jettison as much soft power as possible, what would he do that's substantially different from Trump? Yeah, I think deliberate sabotage would look remarkably like this. |
| /u/Canvaverbalist Rename the European Union to the Northern Union, it would make the French really happy to be part of the nu |
| /u/Majestic_Artichoke55 Yah they made us arrest huawei ownership when she owns a house is Vancouver. Hurt ties with china |
| /u/daSilvaSurfa To you it's a trade war, to us it's an existential threat. We don't believe Trump is 'joking'. The only time he's joking is when he says he is going to do something that might help another living thing. |
| /u/Sea-Aide-6648 Not true. I hear he helps other rapist billionaires. |
| /u/daSilvaSurfa Hah, touché! Though, in my defense I rate child rapists as viruses. |
| /u/jigsaw1024 Still a transactional relationship: Trump agrees to protect them, they continue to fund and support him. The only person Trump will ever help is DJT |
| /u/PolloConTeriyaki Also Canadians hate Nazis. |
| /u/Anaptyso Exactly, he's not joking. He throws out loads of ideas, and if they get backlash then he claims it's a joke. If they are popular then he sticks with them. I have no doubt at all that if he thought he could get away with attacking Canada and it would be popular then he'd do it. All he cares about is his popularity and getting rich, there's absolutely no moral code in his decision making. |
| /u/After_Permission9484 And if he is joking, it proves Americans are just shitty people with no humour. American comedy has a HUGE tendency to punch down. |
| /u/TextInteresting4449 as a canadian I hate to say it but with the damage done I don't see the relationship ever being the same again |
| /u/Fitty4 Tariffs on Forest Fires is ridiculous |
| /u/thesqlguy How damn lucky we are to have a huge border with a giant country that was such a close trusted ally. And we treat them like this. Heck, Mexico also. |
| /u/SalvationSycamore It's almost like everything this administration does is purposely designed to weaken and undermine America. Odd considering that the president and many other members have credible ties to Russia, who have never meant us anything but good will. |
| /u/VCTRYDTX It's almost as if treating your neighbors and allies with kindness and respect will be good for everyone in the long run. This may sound strange though to motherfuckers who only want to enrich themselves. |
| /u/Diedrogen It sounds strange to people who think everything is a zero-sum game, that you're not better off unless you make someone else worse off. |
| /u/Electric_Antimony Except, we aren't friends anymore and rightfully so. |
| /u/TwentyfootAngels America has (in my eyes) turned out to be something more like a crackhead brother than a friend, these days. You still care, and you'd still help if there was a true, desperate emergency, because family is family and that used to mean something... but friends? I don't know if we can fix that anymore. Forget years, I'm talking on the decade and century timescale. |
| /u/WarLorax It's good to see all the people in the streets protesting it. |
| /u/Biscuits4u2 It's almost like our country shouldn't have sent this fucking guy back to the White House, but here we all are. |
| /u/chargers17-13 Reasonable is even an understatement. Ass clown doesn't understand relationships that are based on more than just money it seems like. |
| /u/liquidsyphon If Dems don't make it right and hold these people accountable and install permanent guardrails, Canada has zero reason to be our friend as they always have been |
| /u/StepComplete1 All ex-allies have zero reason to be your friend anyway. The rest of the world is sick of America's shit. You elected this mess twice. This is the new normal. Just saying "oh well, just wait until our side gets in again, then you have to forgive us and go back to normal" doesn't mean anything, and is completely self-centred. It's not everyone else's place to abide by American politics. |
| /u/Carrenal You just have to Look at the Biden presidency and how they handled Trump policies to get an idea of what's to come. Spoiler, most of these shitty policies will be kept in place. |
| /u/Amazing-Power4765 That's the best part, according to Trump if Canada don't bend the knee from economic methods, he'll use kinetic options and send in the military. Literally attacking one's family and close friends at this point. |
| /u/forum-eight I grew up in Yellowknife NWT and my mom worked for like a day and a half straight on the emergency logistics team taking care of 2 huge planes worth of people. We were a small town with a big airport, definitely not prepared for that amount of people, but my mom and her team gotter done. Tough to understand as an 11 year old but very cool to look back at her in that role during that time now. |
| /u/OldGreySweater A really good friend of mine was an air traffic controller in Iqaluit on 9/11. He said he started work at 9am and brought a sub for lunch, he had it on the side of his keyboard. He said he remembers sitting down to work, and then looking at the sub and saying...huh, I think I should I eat - and it was noon the next day. That was the mid Arctic, not usually a busy air space. But that's how busy he was diverting aircraft. Time stood still. |
| /u/sthenri_canalposting Had no clue some of them ended up in YK. |
| /u/OddSell And Canada never asked for, nor received a single American cent to cover the enormous costs borne by communities, airports, governments, and volunteers during Operation Yellow Ribbon. Yet here we are... being tariffed over an imaginary fentanyl smuggling crisis, a fabricated "national security threat" posed by Canadian steel and aluminum, and now the latest absurdity, wildfire smoke. You'd think a country that constantly lectures the world about its "exceptionalism" might occasionally demonstrate the exceptional quality of remembering who its friends were. |
| /u/Big_Judgment3824 Should send them a bill now. |
| /u/throwinthatshitaway1 On the 25th anniversary |
| /u/No_Criticism_5861 Fuckin right. Sept 11 is going to be a reminder of how much we were suckers to help them |
| /u/TheWildTofuHunter As an American who was 18 years old when 9/11 happened, I'm so grateful for the grace and support that Canada showed to us then and continuously. I'm sorry that our government is a bunch of petulant toddlers. |
| /u/229-northstar As a 66 yo American, who has always loved and appreciated Canada, I still do. I feel exactly the same way you do |
| /u/forevertomorrowagain You've got elections coming up. Get vocal please. |
| /u/FireflyBSc As a Canadian, absolutely fucking not. We've always been proud of our conduct, and I would rather be a proud sucker than an isolationist worm that regrets doing the right thing. We joined both World wars first, fighting far longer with more of our soldiers being volunteers and less of them coming home. We didn't follow them into wars like Vietnam and the invasion of Iraq, but we were there when they were attacked. And we take the high road now. We didn't start this, we tried to negotiate, we were clear about why we cannot capitulate. And we keep our heads high, for the great things we continue to do rather than this kind of petty shit. That's why we have so many allies and can stand up for ourselves, because even if our neighbour can't appreciate us, everyone else knows that we are a good neighbour regardless. |
| /u/ItwasntMe237 Have you been reading my posts 😁🤔 I'm just so happy to see someone else pointing out our record in WWI and II - Even better every single US Special Forces unit was designed after Canadian soldiers tactics in WWI. Guess where the first trained US soldiers... Vernon, BC!! Yes that Canadian Army base that Vance just mocked is where the "FSSF" (first special service force) A 50/50 Canadian and US Unit called "The Black Devils" that ultimately trained in Montana, fought in WWII and went on to become every branch of Special Forces in the USA and Canada. All trained by using Canadian WWI soldiers tactics. |
| /u/ashgs872tbhjs In the words of JD Vance, it's the 25th celebration of 9/11. I'm actually not serious with that, 9/11 was a tragedy and the people in those towers didn't deserve to die. But Canada should have shipped all the American groundees straight back across the border and refused to get involved in Afghanistan. They have thoroughly shown that helping them in any way is just contributing to harming the rest of the world. |
| /u/Interesting-Ant-6357 I breaks my heart to see stuff like this. I live near enough you guys and I love Canadians. Northern American culture is so strongly mixed with Canadians. I feel like a part of what makes my home home is missing now. I was just a kid when 9/11 happened. you guys have never been "suckers" in our eyes. I always thought Canadians were just super amazing for what they did. That sentiment still remains. |
| /u/quanoey America: "fuck all of that, give me money" |
| /u/jcro001 Not even a thank you. |
| /u/OddSell I remember. Bush thanked nearly every nation on the planet. Except Canada. We are so used to being pissed on by Americans. Nothing has changed. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canada-was-p urposely-cut-from-2001-speech-frum-says/article1009555/ |
| /u/ikon31 Us helping them wasn't for money or praise or recognition. It was a chance to live up to our patriotic beliefs that define the country we hold so dear. We were happy to do it. And to help however possible. Because it's who we pride ourselves on being. |
| /u/OddSell Agreed.We helped because it was the right thing to do. And that's the part worth remembering. Canada's kindness wasn't transactional. The current treatment of Canada is the contrast I'm making. After all that history of friendship, cooperation and standing beside the United States when it needed us, America's response has increasingly been tariffs, insults, threats and treating its closest ally like an enemy. |
| /u/ikon31 Our ally got wounded in 9/11. We tried in some small way to help and support. Then over a quarter century, that event changed them. And became the monster that wounded them. Tragic. But still, fuck them |
| /u/Terrible_Bear6853 I'm sorry so many of us forgot "Never Forget" |
| /u/seams I mean, a lot of the people who screamed loudest to "Never Forget" are the ones doing this lol |
| /u/Extension-Pepper-271 As an American, I can only say I'm sorry for the idiots. I spent months working on a project in Western Canada and Canadians are some of the nicest people I have ever met. While I can be proud of some of the things about the US, I have never considered us the "best". I know that many other countries excel at things that we do not. The current idiotic government has only made us drop lower in the rankings, as far as I'm concerned. Pissing off friendly countries is just plain wrong. I voted against him in every election. |
| /u/dfos21 Respectfully, can the sane Americans please take their country back? You can do something about this, you the American people, can do something. I don't understand how Trump supposedly has some of the worst approval ratings in history, is blatantly corrupt and enriching himself and his friends and family at the expense of regular Americans, yet the American people have not forcefully enacted change. You can do something, take your country back before it's too late. |
| /u/EsotericCodename "You are the kindest country in the world. You are like a really nice apartment over a meth lab." -Robin Williams, on Canada (Reddit AMA) |
| /u/deco19 I really do miss that man |
| /u/9CaptainRaymondHolt9 And the state of our relations now is.... shit. |
| /u/RubyWalke I'd bet Dollars to Timmies that he has no idea of this incredible humanitarian project, and that if he did it wouldn't budge his Respect For Partner in Trade Talks meter a millimetre. |
| /u/Fratercula_arctica Regardless, he has zero frame of reference. "They fed them and let them stay in their homes" means nothing to a man who's spent his entire life having food show up when he asks for it, and every dwelling he's ever set foot in has had nothing but space. (and he still wouldn't help someone...) For the rest of us, knowing that old ladies were cranking out hundreds of sandwiches a day and letting total strangers sleep down the hall from them... it gives you more appreciation for the selfless sacrifice that it was. |
| /u/iowndat If it matters, my impression of Canada has been that they're always the first to help us. If we tell them our border is kinda weak, they're on it. If we have fires or floods, they're sending people and planes to help. If I had to choose our most important ally, it would be Canada. That is why I have been shocked by Trump starting shit with Canada. There's literally nothing to be mad about- he had to make shit up! I think he's probably manipulating the stock market this way, like he does. Or maybe it's all because Melania was drooling over Justin Trudeau. I hope when we sort ourselves out we can build back a friendship with Canada. |
| /u/whogivesashirtdotca my impression of Canada has been that they're always the first to help us. If we tell them our border is kinda weak, they're on it. If we have fires or floods, they're sending people and planes to help A Canadian rescue team was the first into St Bernard's Parish, New Orleans after Katrina, which is absolutely damning when you look at a map. |
| /u/Difficult-Cut-8454 This is so true. We went to Normandy in 2023 and stopped by the Canadian beaches first. The stories of bravery were incredibly touching and we got to chat with some lovely Canadian transfer students who were running the site. One thing I can say I learned is never go against a Canadian when death is on the line ;) |
| /u/frankyseven Friendly reminder that Canada is the only country that achieved their stated goal on D-Day and they had to be told to stop pushing forward because the US couldn't keep up and were in danger of being flanked. |
| /u/Basal666 The netherlands very well remember the sacrifice the canadiens made in ww2 and we will never forget |
| /u/mostlygroovy The way Canadians are treated when we visit your beautiful country makes us proud of our grandfathers and grateful for your appreciation. Your country has beautiful people that went through something horrific and I hope it never happens again. |
| /u/suddenspiderarmy You know we'd do it again, right? |
| /u/After_Permission9484 The Netherlands sends tulips as a thank you ever single year and Ottawa holds a tulip festival for them. It's hard to imagine the US EVER doing anything like that. They're ungrateful and act like their shit doesn't stink and you should be honoured that they allow you to exist. |
| /u/fwubglubbel >if ever citizens decided to revolt. That will never happen. And the rich know it. |
| /u/nighthawk_something ut it could collapse within a one week if ever citizens decided to revolt. If. But they don't and they won't because they are weak willed cowards. |
| /u/Fearless_Secret_5989 Well, now our families would just have to pay a large tariff once it was time to come back to the US. |
| /u/Rubber924 Come from away anyone? |
| /u/FangedFreak Welcome To The Rock! |
| /u/upvoter222 An islander, I am an islander |
| /u/bitchthatwaspromised To the ones who've left, you're never truly gone A candle's in the window and the kettle's always on! |
| /u/cTfTs And if they're speeding I'll stop 'em and write out a warning ticket. I'll write S-T-F-D. Slow the fuck down! |
| /u/really_robot Oh thats Cod Au Gratin! Fish with cheese! It's fish... with cheese. Are you sure I cannot help you with the food??? |
| /u/Shimmmmidy Yeah! Thats a moose! She'll move when she's good and ready |
| /u/Canadian-Man-infj Someone reminded me that there's a filmization of Come From Away that was released during COVID-19. Initially, there was going to be a screen-adaptation; but because of the pandemic, the Broadway cast just did a recorded performance: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7638556/ I was in tears by the end of it. If you get a chance to see a live performance, I recommend it; but for those who can't, there's this option. |
| /u/CriticalEngineering It's on PBS Passport in the US. Best streaming service to support! |
| /u/IWishIWasAShoe I think a movie recording of the stage performance is, in a way, better than a movie musical. More musicals should get one. |
| /u/Hands-for-maps NPR tiny desk did some of these songs. The tears are the same |
| /u/Woodworking-noob And the town of Gander just released a statement urging for calm in light of the news that the US ambassador will be present for 9/11 commemorations. How things change, eh? |
| /u/whogivesashirtdotca I hope they make him circle for hours before landing. |
| /u/graft_vs_host What a show. I just remember the moment the woman who was housing the lady with the firefighter son found out about the son's fate. You could hear a pin drop in the theatre. |
| /u/DoctorSpooky So I'm back to Shoppers... |
| /u/here-for-the-_____ I just went to see this a couple months ago. Amazing show!! |
| /u/Ok_Face8380 Those people are hero's |
| /u/Rubber924 Gander is a gem of a town. If you've never been I highly recommend stopping by if you're in NL. |
| /u/Vyzantinist You're suggesting people have a...gander? |
| /u/OmNomOnSouls If I ever need to happy cry for two straight hours, I know where to go |
| /u/switch182 How quickly they forget. |
| /u/mrblacklabel71 Edit: I also remember, troops, firefighters, and other disaster help from our brothers and sisters in the north. |
| /u/prplx I don't think you are brothers and sisters to us anymore. You are more the obnoxious cousin who shows up drunk and high at a family gathering and bullies everyone, drinks most of the booze and leaves without saying thank you but stating the party sucked and that parties are better at his house. |