After Swissair

On September 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111 plunged into the sea near the mouth of St. Margaret's Bay in Nova Scotia, killing all 229 on board. Thousands of people responded immediately: emergency personnel, fishermen, the military, divers, community searchers and RCMP officials. In the days, weeks and months after the crash, local residents and ordinary people supported the investigation in any way they could and, more critically, they also sought to comfort the families of the victims. In the face of this almost unimaginable event, many experienced enormous suffering and world views were changed forever for the survivors - both the friends and relatives of the victims as well as support teams and the local communities of St. Margaret's Bay, Halifax and beyond. What carried so many of them through this tragedy was the astonishing generosity and kindness each group gave to the other. As Wilson writes, "We all needed the families as much as they needed us." She wrote this collection of poems "in gratitude and in celebration of the thousands of men and women who suffered - and sometimes triumphed - during the months and years that followed the crash." The poems reveal the depth of the impact the crash of Swissair 111 had on so many people.