Tuesday, September 11, 2001, will be a day that none of us will ever forget. It changed our lives forever. All the descriptions fit: it was like a movie, it was surreal, and it was unbelievable. And at the risk of belittling Pearl Harbour or the Kennedy Assassination, this may be worse. We will all remember where we were and what we were doing. It was a day that seemed to go on forever.

Many of us turned on our TV sets at the office or at home after hearing of the first crash - some were calling it a crash, some a terrorist act - of a jet into the North Tower of the World Trade Center (WTC). Then another jet slammed into the South Tower on live television and there was no doubt left: it was coordinated, evil, murderous terrorism. It was quickly followed by news of the Pentagon crash, the downed jet outside of Pittsburgh and the collapse - caught live on TV - of both WTC towers. It was a catastrophic 90 or so minutes of shock and horror.

Three days later, we still cannot really fathom the magnitude of the devastation and we may never know actual number of innocent victims that perished, and those may still succumb to complications. In talking with colleagues, it seems that many of us felt awkward, if not guilty, resuming our daily routines. Drop the kids at school or daycare; hit the drive through at Tim Horton's and then on to work.

But what else are we to do? It is not an easy question to answer. In the midst of this horrible tragedy, it is heartwarming to see blood donor clinics overflowing and people opening up their wallets to donate to Red Cross and other relief organizations. While I don't wish to belittle the loss of probably thousands of lives and as academic and as cold as this may sound - what must we learn from this experience.

To start, we should stop calling these terrorists "cowards." Cowards commit crimes, run away, and strike again. The people that perpetuated these acts were motivated murderers. This motivation is a driven by a hatred for America, and by extrapolation, our Western way of life. Repugnant images of some (notice I state some, not all) Palestinians dancing on the streets of the West Bank in celebration of the attacks are a testament to this hatred.

One commentator put it best when he pointed out that "extremists" have been at war with the West for 20 years. Hopefully, with this week's tragedies we will finally wake up to this reality. Immediately and over the longer-term, this calls for nothing short of a coordinated international effort against terrorism and those nations that knowingly harbour terrorists.

There is no doubt that in the coming days or weeks, when there is some certainty in identifying the terrorist organization or organizations and possibly states behind this week's barbarism, the U.S. response will be substantively disproportionate.

One Canadian analyst went so far as to raise the spectre of the deployment of a tactical nuclear weapon. U.S. Senator John McCain echoed a similar attitude noting that we (the U.S.) should respond, "not ruling out any military option." And conservative columnist Deroy Murdock wrote of the terrorists, "find them and flatten them."

At home, we should be very careful and judicious in our descriptions. The terms Arab terrorists or Muslim extremists are very loaded. Our city is home to Arabs and Muslims. They are engineers, diplomats, shop owners, cab drivers, mothers and fathers, our neighbours, and in many instances, our friends. Like other Canadians, they too are donating blood, giving money and condemning terrorism. We should be careful not to stereotype them. Terrorists can come from all faiths and all regions.

Yet Canada must stand firm with the U.S. in its time of need. The Prime Minister has offered our support and rightfully condemned the attacks. But we must go further. When Parliament resumes next week, a very serious debate must take place about our immigration policies. Already we have reports out of Boston that two of the hijackers may have crossed into the U.S. from Canada. While the Prime Minister is technically right when he says it is the Americans who are responsible for who crosses their borders, such an isolationist and defensive view is an affront to the office he holds.

We have a responsibility to ensure that Canada is not seen - as it is by many intelligence observes now - as a launching pad for terrorist cells. This will require a fundamental rethink of our immigration polices. While we should continue to embrace diversity and draw the best and brightest from around the globe to our shores, entry into Canada is not a right, it is a privilege. Just as our entry into any other sovereign nation - be it for business, pleasure or more permanent intentions - is a privilege.

Another consequence of these attacks will probably be an erosion of our personal freedoms. Arriving for a quick 45-minute flight to Toronto some two or more hours ahead of time may indeed become the norm for business travel. And maybe three or four hours for a flight to Washington or overseas. We should be prepared to show two pieces of photo id, clear security, have our carry-on bags thoroughly searched, answer several questions about travel intentions and have our names routinely run through police computer searches. Don't kid yourselves; these are some of the measures under serious consideration.

As I write this column an official for the New Your Port Authority has estimated that some 20,000 people may have perished at the World Trade Center with another 10,000 underneath in the mall complex dead as well. Think about it: two 110-storey buildings, the tallest on our continent, built to withstand a hurricane, were engulfed in 1000 degree plus heat and collapsed in less than two hours after being struck by kamikaze pilots.

Some 47,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam over several years. Three days ago, up to 30,000 innocent civilians may have perished in less than two hours. Their lives should never be forgotten. Our lives have been changed forever.