Martin: Partnership 'even more important'
 |  President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin |
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|  VIDEO |
 Some might say President Bush's visit to Canada is long overdue.
 Bush defends his Iraq policy at an Ottawa news conference.
 CNN's Judy Woodruff reports on Canada's relationship with Bush.
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HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (CNN) -- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin recounted Wednesday the hospitality Canadians displayed to stranded travelers after U.S. airspace closed in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks. Following is a transcript of his remarks.
Mr. President, premiers, ministers, members of the House of Commons and of the Senate, members of the legislatures, mayors, reeves, wardens, your excellency, ladies and gentlemen, on the morning of September the 11th, 2001, as word spread of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, 224 commercial planes were immediately diverted to 17 airports across Canada, to British Columbia and Alberta to the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, but mostly diverted here to runways across Atlantic Canada.
These aircraft carried some 33,000 people. Most of them were Americans, some heading off on business trips or vacations; others bound for home.
Many were told they would be setting down in Halifax or St. Johns, in Monkton or Stephenville, in Goose Bay or in Gander. And some of these were places that many aboard had never heard of. They are now places that few of the passengers will ever forget.
The response to them was immediate and it was profoundly Canadian.
Innkeepers threw open their doors. Rooms were free of charge.
Residents stayed up all night to cook for their guests. They went door to door to find spare bedding.
They put handwritten signs in their windows that said, "Come in for a shower."
And in St. Johns, Linda Moyles turned her own bed over to Jeanette DeCamp, a U.S. Army specialist from Florida who was eight months pregnant and who had spend her first night on a church floor. "Come and go as you like," she was told. "The door is never locked."
Here in Nova Scotia, the families of Leah Cameron and Donna Popowich, neighbors in Lower Sackville, each took in six members of the wedding party of Tracy and Ken Johnson. These were a British couple who were on their way to Las Vegas to be married.
Tracy and Ken were so touched by the gesture, by the hospitality, that they decided it just wouldn't feel right if they didn't get married in Halifax.
So Leah helped plan everything in just eight hours, and they were wed at city hall.
In living rooms across Atlantic Canada, small towns like Gambo, Deer Lake, Louisporte and Norris Arm, they watched television together, hosts and guests taking in the horrific details of America's most grievous day.
In dining rooms, they ate together, they shared stories, and they took solace in companionship. And in interfaith ceremonies, they prayed together.
After one service, Canadians and Americans alike sang "The Star Spangled Banner." Men were moved to tears.
And later, after the planes had departed for home, a Texan who was stranded in Atlantic Canada for several days would write in a letter to a Dallas newspaper -- and I quote -- "Those Canadians took us into their arms like family."
Well, Mr. President, that's what neighbors do. That's what friends do.
And that's what Americans did so many years ago in 1917, when a munitions ship caught fire in Halifax, and then in the harbor, and then exploded, killing or wounding more than 10,000 people and destroying much of the city.
As word spread, Americans across the Northeast pitched in to help to do what they could.
And to this day, the people of Halifax send a Christmas tree each year to Boston as a gesture of thanks and friendship. It stands each December in Boston Common.
And I'm told that this year's tree, a 46-foot white spruce from Lunenburg, will be lit tomorrow night.
As nations rise becoming new economic powers, as new threats to our collective well-being emerge, the partnership between the United States and Canada will become even more important, in economic terms, terms of our mutual security, in human terms. There will be greater need to work together cooperatively as two sovereign nations, and to strengthen our bond both at home and abroad.
The terrible events of September the 11th have redefined many realities in the world and on our own continent. We're in a war against terrorism and we are in it together, Americans and Canadians.
From this harbor, families and loved ones have watched as Canadian military personnel departed for service in Afghanistan and points overseas.
There have been tests at home too. There have been enormous pressures on our shared borders. We are concerned with domestic security. We must defend this continent, secure its borders, guard its ports. And Canada is absolutely committed to doing whatever needs to be done.
Despite the change that this pressure has brought upon North America, the underlying trust, goodwill and affection between the people of our two nations have never faltered. In fact, they have grown stronger. Together we have come to realize that the world is indeed smaller since 9/11. It's more complex, perilous, more challenging.
Almost a century ago, trenches cut through the bucolic countryside of France, scarring terrain that for years would define the front lines of the first Great War, terrain on which so many American and Canadian soldiers would fall for the cause of liberty. These men knew where the enemy was and who he was. He wore a uniform. He fought to gain territory.
Today the front lines of war extend from the night clubs of Bali to the schoolyards of Russia to the train stations of Spain and on into the avenues of Manhattan and the everyday lives of North America.
This is not a conventional war and the ocean is no longer a buffer. You do not see the enemy. He does not wear a uniform. He seeks only to kill.
And thus we must be steadfast and unrelenting in our vision.
Mr. President, when you accepted your party's nomination this past summer, you proclaimed your belief in the transformational power of liberty. Well, we share that conviction.
We believe that liberty must be embedded and nurtured in democratic institutions. We believe that security can only be ensured through freedom of choice, education, individual endeavor and equality of opportunity.
This has been the philosophy behind our actions in the Balkans and Afghanistan and Haiti, and we hope soon in elections in the Middle East and Iraq.
Mr. President, in the immediate aftermath of September the 11th, you said, and I quote, "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining."
Well, today that light still burns brightly. And let me assure you, it does not burn alone.
It is sustained by all of those who believe in freedom, human rights, and in democracy. It is sustained by the support that we provide to those the world over who suffer from the ravages of conflict or, as we are reminded on this World AIDS Day, the blight of disease.
Mr. President, you will address the people of this nation today from a location that occupies a singular place in Canada's history. This is Pier 21.
Over the course of more than 40 years during the 20th century, almost a million immigrants landed here, enriching our national character and helping to forge the spirit of multiculturalism that today helps to define us to the world.
On this same pier, during the 1940s, some 500,000 members of the Canadian military boarded ships and departed for Europe to join the war to fight for freedom. Some would return to Pier 21 on hospital ships. So many thousands would not return home at all.
This place is one of raw emotion, of jubilation and heartbreak, of smiles and tears, of duty and commitment, of loss and resolve, of new beginning and opportunity.
Mr. President, this place is Canada. And it is an honor today to share it with the leader of our nation's great friend.
We welcome you to our land, and to the great city of Halifax.
Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you the president of the United States of America.
