Widow of Canadian killed in 9/11 wants to ‘redefine’ the day

Maureen Basnicki stands in the dining room of the Albany Club in downtown Toronto on the eve of 9/11, proud of the dinner she has helped organize.

The “Service Day” dinner, she explains, is to show gratitude to service men and women — those who fought for Canada in Afghanistan, supported Canadians after 9/11, and those who continue serve our communities on a day-to-day basis.

Twenty-five years ago, her husband Ken Basnicki, 48, was killed when Al Qaeda terrorists highjacked planes and flew them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre.

Maureen Basnicki, a flight attendant at the time, says she woke up that morning in a small town just outside of Frankfurt where her crew was on a layover.

She says she turned on her television and saw the second plane fly into the south tower.

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“You can only imagine my shock and horror knowing Ken was there. I didn’t know which tower he was in, but I knew he was in New York and the rest is history,” she explains.

Because she didn’t have a cellphone at the time and was desperate to speak to Ken, Basnicki says she went down to the lobby of the hotel and asked the concierge if he could call Ken, who did have a cellphone.

There was no response so she begged the concierge to call back and leave him her number at the hotel.

“In any event, my mother-in-law received a call from Ken because he knew I was in Germany and didn’t have a cell phone. I can only repeat his last words to anybody, to his mother.  He said ‘Mom, something horrible has happened. The room is full of smoke, the roof is blocked and I don’t know how I’m going to get out. I’m on the 106th floor of the World Trade Centre.’ That’s how definite I was about his whereabouts on that day,” Basnicki says.

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The skies were shut down as a result of the terrorist attack so Basnicki was stuck in Germany for three days, far from New York and the couple’s two children, aged 16 and 21, who were back in Toronto.

“I still get emotional when I think of it. Thankfully, I had a great crew. I got support from other crew members at the hotel, from the German people. People couldn’t do enough for me, but of course, I wanted to be home with my children,” she explains.

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Basnicki says their family played the waiting game hoping that Ken would be a survivor.

“I knew when I was trapped in Germany that Ken was never going to come home,” she explains.

In the years since then, Basnicki has worked hard advocating for survivors of terrorism and to change the dialogue on 9/11.

“It’s imperative for me and for history’s sake, for our young people to understand what happened that day was a global event.”

She says while people will “never forget” the hate and the horror of the heinous attack that occurred, she is more of an “always remember” person.

“The outpouring of love and support, the response from Canadians that came in the aftermath, that’s so important. Looking back, 9/11 was an attack on our values, a shared value with the United States. It was an attack on democracy.  I like to think we can celebrate our values that day instead of dwelling on the hate and horror,” Basnicki says.

In the room at the Albany Club where the dinner is being held, the tables are decorated with red and white linens and recording artist and anthem singer Robert Pilon is set to perform.

“I was successfully able to get, under the Harper Government on the tenth anniversary, September 11th to be designated ‘National Day of Service'”, Basnicki says.

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These are the kind of events that she dedicates her time to now.

“We all want to remember the good memories. I’ve reached a point where you can only imagine how I feel when I see the planes, as a former flight attendant, used as a murder weapon to kill my husband. That visual is hard for me to escape,” she says, her voice cracking.

“I would rather dwell on the aftermath, celebrate with my ‘Come from Away’ family, not to make light of the event but to show off our true values,” Basnicki adds, with a smile on her face.

Basnicki encourages everyone to commemorate 9/11 by doing an act of service, be it participating in the upcoming Terry Fox Run or donating blood.

“Buy a cop a cup of coffee, a firefighter, show your gratitude,” she says laughing.

“Just a small way. Everybody can do that. It took average Canadians to react after 9/11. Go beyond the political rhetoric. Find your own personal capacity, a way of saying ‘we live in a very great country and we love our values here.'”

Basnicki says she misses Ken and knows he would have been proud.

“Ken was a man of service. He coached the kids when he was able to, he put his family ahead of his work, He had his priorities right. He gave to his community, organized community events. We had an annual volleyball tournament, on Labour Day weekend,” says Basnicki.

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She says she will continue to work towards advocating for new legislation to combat terrorism but also to remind Canadians to celebrate the National Day of Service.

“For me, it was a death day for my beloved Ken. But c’mon, life is beautiful and I’m very proud of my country.”

Basnicki says she will continue to remember the nearly 3000 lives lost that day, including 24 Canadians, but wants to redefine the day.

“We have yet to define the day. There’s no physical memorial but let’s have a living one.”