On the morning of 11 September 2001, Perry Chalmers was running drills for the Royal Canadian Regiment’s specialised mortar platoon in New Brunswick when he heard the news: America was under attack.
asserted
America → run → attack
Word quickly spread across the base.
asserted
Word → spread → base
“I went inside to watch the news,” the former corporal recalls.
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corporal → go → news
“And there was a huge feeling of – and you’re going to have to excuse me – holy shit.
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you → be → me
What the fuck just happened?”
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fuck → happen → ?
Chalmers called his wife, who informed him that, just before 10:30am, the second of the World Trade Center towers had fallen.
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second → call → towers
With that, his battalion was put on notice: dispatched to nearby airports to assist in the forced landings of commercial aircraft after the shutdown of North American airspace.
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battalion → put → airspace
The Canadian troops went to retrieve their rucksacks and any other necessities, should they need to spring into action at a moment’s notice.
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they → go → notice
As Chalmers recalls: “Things started to happen really quickly.”
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Things → recall → ?
Chalmers would deploy to Afghanistan, on a nine-month tour of combat duty, where he saw combat alongside US troops.
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he → deploy → troops
He put his mortar platoon training to good use, as a counter-IED engineer, dealing with the threat of improvised explosives in conjunction with the US army’s 10th Mountain Division.
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He → put → Division
He was one of more than 40,000 members of the Canadian armed forces who served in Afghanistan, supporting US and Nato operations.
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who → serve → operations
The Canadians lost 158 lives.
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Canadians → lose → lives
In 2007, a stretch of Ontario’s highway 401 was rechristened the “Highway of Heroes” to commemorate the convoys of fallen soldiers ferried between the military base in Trenton, Ontario, and the coroner’s office in Toronto.
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stretch → rechristene → Toronto
About 14,000 Canadians landed on Juno Beach in Normandy on D-day during the second world war.
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Canadians → land → war
More than 26,000 Canadians served in the Korean war.
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Canadians → serve → war
While Canada did not officially participate in the Vietnam war, an estimated 30,000 Canadians headed across the border to volunteer for the US military.
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Canadians → participate → military
Over the course of the war in Afghanistan, Chalmers can count 35 fellow Canadian troops who lost their lives.
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who → count → lives
But he never really brooked any regrets, or bad feelings, about his role in the US-led war.
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he → brook → war
“My experience was that we were participating in an operation to help our brothers and sisters in the United States,” he says.
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he → participate → States
“None of them ever snubbed their noses at us.
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None → snub → us
We were treated as equals, and respected, for what we brought to the table.”
But no longer.
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we → treat → table
While calling Canada “a state”, US vice-president JD Vance recently commented that it “had underinvested in its military that quite literally would get invaded by a foreign country were it not for the umbrella of protection provided by the United States of America”.
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it → call → America
Going one step further, Donald Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, told Fox News that Canada “doesn’t have a military”.
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Canada → go → military
Self-styled “secretary of war” Pete Hegseth has spent time on X, mocking Canadian cadets and criticising a Canadian coast guard detachment for taking part in a Pride celebration.
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secretary → style → celebration
Trump himself was criticised earlier this year for claiming that Canadian and other Nato forces in Afghanistan were “never needed”, claiming these allies “stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines”.
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allies → criticise → frontlines
The remarks have been condemned at the highest level of the Canadian government.
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remarks → condemn → government
The defence minister, David McGuinty, described Hegseth’s social media posts as “below the dignity of the office he holds”.
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he → describe → office
Amid a serious diplomatic dispute between the two nations, the prime minister, Mark Carney, accused Trump and Hegseth of “doing memes”.
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minister → accuse → memes
“It’s disrespect and betrayal,” Chalmers says.
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Chalmers → ’ → ?
“It makes me very angry.”
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me → make → ?
“It’s really hard to hear how ungrateful they are, especially Vance, who served,” said Chris Banks, a retired Canadian army sergeant with nearly two decades of experience.
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Banks → ’ → experience
“To hear him spit on our sacrifice is insulting, it’s hurtful, and it’s disrespectful to the dead.
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it → hear → dead
On the other hand, these men have proven themselves nothing more than children.
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men → prove → children
So when I heard JD Vance say it, it’s like, ‘Oh, good.
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it → hear → it
Dumbass said something else’”.
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Dumbass → say → something
Banks deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, where he was part of a Canadian platoon that laid down cover fire for Americans under attack from the Taliban.
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that → deploy → Taliban
To this day, he still has vivid memories of taking cover in a ditch near Pashmul, alongside an American platoon, looking up as the trees overhead were shredded by shrapnel.
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trees → have → shrapnel
He says he was proud to serve.
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he → say → ?
But when he came home to Ontario in 2009, he felt something had changed.
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something → come → 2009
…and 35 more, not listed.
The Aporia
