Protests against U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra’s visit to Gander for the Newfoundland town’s 9/11 commemoration events last weekend didn’t materialize. But the wildly unpopular diplomat left the province with a powerful message from residents and political leaders, who shared their displeasure with him in other ways.
In the midst of President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, some Gander residents expressed opposition to Hoekstra’s presence ahead of the 25th anniversary events, prompting speculation about potential protests.
The protests never happened, and Hoekstra, one of several political dignitaries who spoke at the town’s packed hockey arena Friday, was even applauded when introduced to give his speech.
The ambassador and long-time Republican has defended Trump’s trade war and inflammatory rhetoric, including the president’s threats to annex Canada. In Gander Friday, he acknowledged Canada’s “shared sacrifice” in “standing side-by-side in Afghanistan to confront the horror that had perpetrated these attacks against our country.
“What legacy does Gander come to symbolize today? That when horrific things happen, when man treats man so badly, good will win,” he said.
“Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for standing up,” Hoekstra concluded. “To the nation of Canada: thank you. Thank you for being a partner. Thank you for the shared sacrifices that you have made with us.”
For the remainder of the two-hour event, the ambassador sat quietly behind municipal, provincial and federal representatives and civilian dignitaries who largely avoided the elephant in the room. That is, until former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien took the stage near the end of the proceedings.
Chrétien, who led Canada during the 9/11 attacks, said he was “proud” that Canada was the first country in NATO’s history to invoke Article 5 of the NATO charter, which “says that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all of NATO,” he said. “Our closest friend was attacked. We said that was an attack on us, too, and we fought back side-by-side.”
Chrétien, now 92, ended with a “personal message” for “our American friends,” he said, Hoekstra seated behind him looking on. “Yes, Canada is a generous, open country. And Canadians are tolerant and kind. But never mistake our generosity for weakness,” he proclaimed to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. “Never mistake our tolerance for lack of determination. And never mistake our kindness for softness. We know who we are and we are proud of it.
“We embrace our friends and we help them in their moment of need, but we bow to no one. The more we are threatened and abused, the more we will stand up for ourselves and stand united. And I say that not in anger, but as one friend to another,” he continued.
“Friends need to be honest with each other, just as the people in Gander and anywhere else in Newfoundland and Labrador. They will give you the shirt off their backs like they did 25 years ago. But they will always show you the respect of telling you the truth. So my friends, here is the truth: To respect, to friendship, and to good neighbours – vive les États-Unis, et vive le Canada!”
Footage of the event shows Hoekstra remaining seated as his fellow dignitaries stand to applaud Chrétien. When the ambassador finally stands, he then approaches and hugs the former prime minister.
Blumer says he was “pissed” when he learned Hoekstra was invited to Gander.
Among those in the crowd cheering on Chrétien’s speech was 65-year-old Gander resident Greg Blumer, who arrived in Gander as a member of the U.S. Navy in the early 1980s and has lived there ever since (and, full disclosure, is a relative of the author). Blumer says he was “pissed” when he learned Hoekstra was invited to Gander but that he understands the mayor and council were following protocol.
When it came time for Hoekstra to address the roughly 1,500 people at Saturday’s ceremony, Blumer said as Hoekstra approached the microphone, “there was a lot of tension – you could just feel it.” The arena was silent and no one booed the ambassador or interrupted his speech. “They listened to what he had to say,” Blumer recalled.
Whatever tension existed in the crowd at that moment eventually spilled out in Chrétien’s speech. “He said the words that all Canadians are feeling, and probably a lot of Americans are feeling too, that we are gonna be there for you and we’re your friends, but we demand respect,” Blumer said.
Nick Dobi, an 84-year-old retired pilot who captained a flight from Milan to New York on September 11, 2001 that was diverted to Gander, said the absence of political protest during the commemoration made Chrétien’s message even more powerful.
“ I love the way Canadians in general, and specifically Newfoundlanders, looked at this. They didn’t throw politics into anything we were dealing with this whole time we were here,” Dobi said, calling the restraint that Gander residents showed in the face of Trump’s tariffs and trade war, “beautiful.”
Dobi said the prior evening a woman from Gander told him, “‘We don’t like what President Trump is doing,’” he recalled. “I said, ‘Listen, you’re preaching to the choir. There are millions of Americans that are behind Canada 100 per cent, and I’m hoping this nightmare is over before the year ends,’” he said, alluding to the U.S. midterm elections scheduled for November.
Hoekstra has come under fire for defending Trump and the president’s often inflammatory and diplomatically hostile rhetoric, including his threats to annex Canada and make it the U.S.’s “51st state.”
A petition presented in the House of Commons accuses Hoekstra of “undermining the Canada-U.S. diplomatic relations, including characterizing the 2025 Canadian federal election as ‘anti-American’,” and of accusing Canada of “interfering in U.S. domestic politics while himself making repeated interventions in Canadian political discourse inconsistent with diplomatic protocol,” among other things.
With more than a quarter-million signatures from Canadians, the petition calls on the federal government to “declare Pete Hoekstra persona non grata and request his removal as U.S. Ambassador to Canada.”
Inept at ‘reading the room’?
On the final day of his three-day visit to Gander, Hoekstra attended a volunteer appreciation event at the Royal Canadian Legion, where he gifted Gander Mayor Percy Farwell a plaque commemorating the United States’ 250th anniversary.
“ We have our 25th anniversary of 9/11, but […] this is also the 250th anniversary of the United States,” Hoekstra told Farwell in front of 60 or so volunteers. “I’m not gonna put it up today, it’ll get wet,” the mayor joked as Hoekstra reached for a second gift.
Hoekstra then handed Farwell a blue paper bag he said contained an American flag to replace the one at the Town of Gander’s office, “if that one’s a little tattered or whatever,” the ambassador said. Farwell, who appeared uncomfortable with Hoeskra’s gesture, then muttered a few words to the ambassador and returned to his seat.
“There are millions of Americans that are behind Canada 100 per cent, and I’m hoping this nightmare is over before the year ends.”
The Town of Gander didn’t respond to a request for an interview with Farwell, or a written statement, by the time of publication. Prior to the 9/11 commemoration events, and amid discontent over Hoekstra’s impending visit, the Town urged public restraint.
“We are not asking anyone to change how they feel or what they believe. We are asking that, for this occasion, the focus remain on the nearly 3,000 lives lost, the people forever affected by September 11, and the humanity that brought people together here 25 years ago,” the Town said in a September 4 news release.
“There are times when we will disagree. There are also times when we have to recognize that something is bigger than those differences. For Gander, September 11 is one of those times.”
Dobi, who identifies as neither a Republican nor a Democrat, offered parting words for Canadians: “Just know that I and millions of Americans feel strongly about standing with Canada. And everything that’s been going on with Trump and the administration there – we want to reverse that.”
Among the passengers on Dobi’s September 11, 2001 flight was Italian-American composer Raphael Fusco, who, just 17 at the time, was returning to New York for a visit while attending school in Italy. Speaking to the crowd gathered in Gander Friday, Fusco, now 42, poignantly expressed the power of unity between Canadians and Americans.
“My friends, I know that there are some dark clouds obscuring the relations between our two great nations at this point, and I hope that we together can look beyond political branding and messages, to be a reflection of our light. Because in the words of Edith Stein, out of the he and she, and you and me, comes the we – a subject much stronger than any of the others on their own.”
Justin Brake is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter based in Newfoundland, on a new beat covering Atlantic Canada for Ricochet Media and The Independent. Contact him with tips and story ideas at justin.brake@theindependent.ca.
