So many of us remember where we were when we heard the news. The passage of time hasn’t diminished the horror of that day and the heartbreaking stories that emerged. The brave first responders who didn’t hesitate to ascend the burning towers. The courageous airline passengers who fought back. The coworkers who carried and comforted one another. And the men and women who would go on to serve and sacrifice in Afghanistan, so that such terror would never again strike the free world. Today, Allies for a Strong Canada remembers the nearly 3,000 innocents murdered by Al-Qaeda terrorists on 9/11, including 24 people who were Canadian citizens or had very close ties to our country. We pay tribute to the 165 Canadian soldiers and civilians slain in the Afghanistan War, where our Forces served with extraordinary distinction in the most intense combat Canada faced since the Korean War. And we reaffirm our mission to stand up for the values and way-of-life that our Canadian Forces fight to protect—and that the terrorists callously sought to extinguish. Today and always, we will never forget.