This year, the students of Sophie Maurice's 2001 Grade 7 french immersion class at Whitehorse Elementary graduated from high school.

Max Fraser's daughter, Robin Reid-Fraser, was in this class that he's chosen to focus on for his film about 9/11 events in Whitehorse.

Like many parents in town, he spent the first part of his morning preoccupied with the events in Washington and New York where terrorists had hijacked and crashed passenger flights into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

Then he and thousands others heard schools in Whitehorse were being evacuated because of a possible hijacked flight coming into the Whitehorse airport.

'So, like thousands of other parents I fled my workplace, abandoned what I was doing, raced to get my daughter who at that time was in Grade 7 at Whitehorse Elementary,' he said.

The Korean Air Boeing 747, which had originally been scheduled for a stop Anchorage en route to New York, turned out to be low on gas. The pilot, however, had accidentally indicated the plane was hijacked, and it was eventually escorted into Whitehorse by military fighter jets. Another cargo flight was also diverted into town.

The situation left parents like Fraser scrambling to get their kids, but not knowing whether the students would be at school or at an undisclosed emergency location.

When Fraser arrived at Whitehorse Elementary School, he soon learned his daughter wasn't there.

'She had gone to her mom's office two blocks away with another parent. So that rattled me; Where the hell is my daughter.''

It wasn't until he raced over to his wife's office that he found his daughter was safe.

'The events of the day had a profound effect on me. And so, to a certain extent, it's a personal story, at least the motivation is personal,' Fraser said, adding he's wanted to tell the story of the 9/11 events in Whitehorse for a few years now.

Given that no one else has told the story, he decided to combine the events with his recent interest in film to create a documentary through the 'lens' of Maurice's class.

'Whitehorse Elementary, being 500 metres from the runway, as far as many parents were concerned, was basically Ground Zero,' he commented. 'All the airliner had to do was veer off slightly and it could have caused a huge impact either on the kids at Whitehorse Elementary or people in the downtown area.'

In a classroom of 25, there's the possibility of interviewing those students and their 50 parents, in addition to the teaching staff and authorities like the Emergency Measures Organization and RCMP.

'I'll tell the events of the day and weave the stories of the parents and the kids throughout,' he said.

Fraser has already done some interviews with students from the class and their parents, but is still anxious for others he's been trying to reach to call him back since, many are headed off to university in the next couple of weeks.

The students and parents he's talked to so far have each brought forward a different version of events from the day.

'The kid in the back seat of the car had a different experience than the mom or the dad driving in their getaway vehicle,' Fraser said.

His daughter's memories of the day are different from his own.

'It illustrated to me the different perspectives people have of that day,' he said. 'Some kids say their parents seemed very calm. Their parents will readily admit that they were basically in quite a state, either of panic or anxiety or whatever. Other kids could read their parents really well, or their parents weren't hiding anything.'

Many have blanks in the memories from the intense situation of the day. While they remember the crisis and being at home watching the events around the world later that day, some don't remember actually coming home, he said.

Many families found their way out of town to Marsh Lake or Lake Laberge.

The familial instinct to be close to loved ones in the midst of a crisis will be at the core of the film, Fraser said.

'That's clearly a real benefit of living in a small town. Even though the streets were jammed and that kind of stuff, people could still get from one place to another and actually go get their kids.'

In the midst of that will also be other dimensions Fraser is exploring.

'It leads into a whole other layer in looking at a loss of innocence for our small, remote northern community where nothing big ever happens.'

It was the only place in Canada, and perhaps the world with possible exception of Anchorage, where authorities believed a hijacked aircraft was coming to town, he said.

Throughout his interviews, Fraser has been asking people their views on the North and the world, looking at how things like flights and technology, such as Blackberries and increasing Internet use, have changed things.

'In many ways the world has shrunk,' he said.

He expects he will end up with enough material to produce at least a one-hour documentary on the Whitehorse 9/11 events.

Within the next month he hopes to have enough material to do a mini-version of the film to try and interest a broadcaster while he works on the main piece.

If nothing else, Fraser said he's confident he can produce a documentary that will interest the community and could be screened locally and at film festivals.

Not being familiar with the process to get his work on TV, Fraser plans to bring in a partner to assist him with that.

'So my challenge, because nobody died quiet frankly, is to tell the story which is a compelling story but tell it in a competent and compelling fashion that makes an impact on viewers, and represents in an honest way the profound experience on the community,' Fraser said of getting his production aired on television.

While it seems a natural fit for CBC, given the coverage on 9/11, the end-product may not fit within the corporation's broadcast criteria, he said.

If the film does end up going to air, it could be costly for a more professional production at $100,000 or more. If he doesn't end up making it for broadcast it will be more of a labour of love, costing Fraser things like time and video software programs.

Fraser will be using the local CBC broadcast from 9/11. While he contacted other local radio stations about accessing their archives from the day, much of the broadcasts weren't kept.

The filmmaker has also been sifting through other media coverage of Sept. 11, and shooting areas around town that were impacted, to go along with the audio.

Fraser's interest in film began a few years ago when he went on the high school battlefield tour.

'I kind of learned the hard way,' he said. 'I borrowed a video camera and came back with eight hours of tape and said, hey, I'll make a video, how hard can it be.'

After 'regaining consciousness' from that, he made a film for his father's 90th birthday and has taken an editing course and some training from the Yukon Film Society.

Without the society, he noted, his documentary wouldn't have been possible.

'It's not easy, but because of the technology it's within reach for people who have a story to tell,' he said, adding that now it's possible for someone to buy a video camera and at least get started in the process.

Fraser pointed out filmmakers Ian Basso and Rod Jacob are assisting him with the 9/11 project.

'I just want to tell a really good story, be true to the experiences,' he said.

To do that he's also putting out a public call for any pictures or video residents may have of Whitehorse from Sept. 11, 2001. Fraser can be reached at maxfraser@northwestel.net or 668-3441.

Fraser's goal is to have the world premiere of his film held at Whitehorse Elementary School sometime around Sept. 11, 2008.