Peace Garden honors 9/11 victims
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The International Peace Garden opened its 9/11 memorial site in 2002. The area contains salvaged iron remnants, donated in 2010, from the remains of the World Trade Center, according to its website.
Each year the Peace Garden holds a memorial service open to the public on Sept. 11 to remember those who lost their lives during the terrorist attack.
Tim Chapman, CEO of the International Peace Garden, said the memorial site is an important remembrance of those who lost their lives during the attack. He said the garden has been honored to have the memorial site as the mission continues for fostering peace and connection across the U.S. and Canadian border.
The Canadian government formulated the idea for the memorial site, according to the International Peace Garden website. Former Manitoba Premier Gary Doer told the 9/11 Living Memorial, a digital archive project, that the International Peace Garden was the most appropriate and fitting for the memorial.
The North American Firefighters Union, the Rotary International and Manitoba Infrastructure partnered to donate the memorial and support any and all needs of the space.
When the memorial site began in 2002, Chapman described it as a years-long effort to clear and design the land. The Peace Garden worked with and held a competition among five universities across the U.S. and Canada to create the design, according to Chapman.
For the inception of the memorial, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to commemorate the site. The area serves as a joint American and Canadian tribute honoring emergency first responders, police officers, firefighters and the paramedics who displayed selfless courage the day of the attacks, according to Pembina Valley, a Manitoba newspaper.