Many communities in New York’s North Country share cross-border economic, cultural and familial ties. In the wake of the shootings in Ottawa Wednesday and the killing of a Canadian soldier in Quebec two days earlier, many are expressing fellowship with their northern neighbor.
Plattsburgh is 20 miles south of the Canadian border and the Plattsburgh North Country Chamber of Commerce recruits Canadian businesses to expand into New York’s North Country. President and CEO Garry Douglas says events in Ottawa are a reminder of shared values and that as allies, a threat to one country is a threat to both. “This terrible attack on Ottawa, a city that we all here in the North Country know well as a place just up the road, comes on the heals of the tragic attack that occurred just up the road from us in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Quebec in recent days. It reminds us that we share that common thread and that we’re united in our values as two peoples. We’re united in our challenges. And we’re united in our grief when anything tragic happens to either one of us.”
The northern and western boundary of New York’s 21st Congressional district is the Canadian border. Representative Bill Owens, co-chair of the congressional Northern Border Caucus, immediately expressed his condolences and solidarity to those affected in Ottawa. “We are very focused on the people who have been injured and killed, their families. Our condolences go out. Canada has been one, if not our strongest ally for well over a hundred years. These are people we have close ties to from a security perspective, close ties to economically and closer ties to culturally. So this is like a member of the family being injured. And I think that all Americans, and certainly the folks who live in the North Country, feel a lot of pain as a result of what’s happened.”
Owens says there must be due diligence at the border to insure terrorists do not have easy access to the U.S. “And at the same time we have tremendous economic considerations to take into account. We want to make sure that we secure the border but we don’t put it in a position where it interrupts commerce.”
Karl Moore is a professor at McGill University in Montreal and a Canadian citizen. He says gun violence is rare in his country. “It’s very un-Canadian in a sense. I’ve never seen anyone with a gun other than a police officer in Montreal in my fifteen years of living here.” You said you’re at the airport. What’s the general conversations you’re hearing about this? “This is our national capital. This is the memorial in front of the Parliament which virtually all Canadians, certainly Eastern Canadians would have been there. I was there not a matter of a few months ago and stood on the very place. And so it hits home when you see this national monument desecrated in this way.”
Director of the Center for the Study of Canada at SUNY Plattsburgh Dr. Christopher Kirkey often travels to Ottawa. “The nature of this particular horrific act, the assassination if you will, of a Canadian soldier guarding the Canadian national war memorial followed by the outbreak of gunfire in the central block of Parliament Hill. This is a very sacred chamber in Canada. It’s akin to going to the U.S. Capital. So this will resonate with a lot of Canadians because they’ve physically been there. This is one of the core symbols of Canada. It will be hard to shake from Canadians’ memories.”
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed Canadians Wednesday evening. He was in Parliament Hill for the weekly Conservative caucus when gunshots were exchanged near the meeting room. “This week’s events are a grim reminder that Canada is not immune to the types of attacks we have seen elsewhere around the world. But let there be no misunderstanding. We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.”
Harper added that the tragedies in Ottawa and St-Jean-sur-Richelieu would strengthen Canada’s resolve to work with allies to fight against terrorist organizations.
