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US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks

Baxter Hunt recounted the outpouring of support from Canadians following the terrorist attacks.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
People bow their heads for three minutes of silence at a memorial ceremony in Ottawa Friday Sept 14, 2001, for the victims of Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the United States.(CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson)

What this story says

  • American diplomat Baxter Hunt remembered a "mountain of flowers" outside the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa the day after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
  • Nearly 3,000 people died in the U.S. during the al-Qaeda attacks, which involved hijacked planes.
  • 80,000 people gathered on Parliament Hill for a national day of mourning three days after the attacks.
  • The community of Gander, Newfoundland, hosted 38 planes carrying over 6,500 travellers after U.S. airspace closure.

Who covered it

Left 59%(13)Centre 41%(9)Right 0%(0)

Percentages are shares of the 22 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 24 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

61/100

Hype

20/100

24 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

None of the 22 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

American diplomat Baxter Hunt recalled finding a mountain of flowers outside the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa the morning after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He described the event as a day none would forget and noted the significant outpouring of support from Canadians. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the U.S. when al-Qaeda hijackers attacked on September 11, 2001, using planes to strike the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with another plane crashing in Pennsylvania.

In the days following the attacks, Hunt witnessed further displays of Canadian compassion. An estimated 80,000 people gathered on Parliament Hill for a national day of mourning three days after the attacks, according to an RCMP estimate reported by The Canadian Press. Then-prime minister Jean Chrétien addressed the crowd, stating that Canadians were with the American people. Similar moments of silence occurred at provincial legislatures and on Bay Street in Toronto. The community of Gander, Newfoundland, famously accommodated 38 passenger planes carrying more than 6,500 travellers after U.S. airspace was closed. Hunt also noted that many stranded passengers were accommodated in other Canadian locations, numbering about 33,000.

Hunt mentioned the 24 Canadians who died in the attacks. He also recalled that American diplomats worked with Canadian law enforcement and military officials to identify threats in the immediate aftermath. The NATO military alliance invoked its collective security clause for the first time, leading to Canadian and allied troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. This conflict resulted in the deaths of 165 Canadians, including 158 soldiers and 7 civilians.

Coverage

What the coverage left out

No right-rated reports covered this story. The left-rated and centre-rated reports did not mention specific details about the U.S. president at the time of the attacks or the specific dates of events beyond September 11, 2001, except for the mention of the 25th anniversary in the CTV News full report.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 6 Sept 2026, 14:00, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

13 rated outlets

  • Thirteen left-rated reports carried details of American diplomat Baxter Hunt's recollections of Canadian solidarity following the 9/11 attacks. These reports highlighted Hunt finding a "mountain of flowers" outside the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa the morning after the attacks. They also noted the nearly 3,000 people killed in the U.S. and the 80,000 people who gathered on Parliament Hill for a national day of mourning. The accommodation of 38 planes and over 6,500 travellers in Gander, Newfoundland, was also a common point. The invocation of NATO's collective security clause and the subsequent deaths of 165 Canadians in Afghanistan were also mentioned across these reports.

Centre

9 rated outlets

  • Nine centre-rated reports focused on American diplomat Baxter Hunt's account of Canadian solidarity after the 9/11 attacks. These reports included Hunt's memory of a "mountain of flowers" at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. They also mentioned the nearly 3,000 fatalities in the U.S. and the 80,000 people who attended a national day of mourning on Parliament Hill. The reports noted the community of Gander, Newfoundland, hosting 38 planes with over 6,500 travellers. The invocation of NATO's collective security clause and the 165 Canadian deaths in Afghanistan were also covered.

Right

0 rated outlets

No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks?
Of the 22 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 59% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 24. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 22 rated outlets on this story, 59% are rated left, 41% are rated centre, 0% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks biased?
US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks is one event reported by 24 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered US diplomat recalls Canadian solidarity after 9/11 attacks?
24 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did American diplomat Baxter Hunt recall about the day after 9/11?
Baxter Hunt recalled arriving at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa the morning after the 9/11 attacks and finding a "mountain of flowers" outside. He described it as a day none would forget and noted the significant outpouring of support from Canadians.
How many people died in the U.S. during the 9/11 attacks?
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the United States when al-Qaeda hijackers attacked on September 11, 2001. The attacks involved hijacked planes striking the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and crashing in a Pennsylvania field.
What was the Canadian response to the 9/11 attacks?
Canadians showed significant solidarity, with 80,000 people gathering on Parliament Hill for a national day of mourning. The community of Gander, Newfoundland, hosted 38 passenger planes carrying over 6,500 travellers after U.S. airspace was closed. NATO also invoked its collective security clause.

Read it at the source

24 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

13
Show 5 more

Centre

9
Show 1 more

Right

0

No outlet in this group ran the story.

Not rated

2

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