A leaked Canadian Broadcasting Corporation memo shows reporters being instructed not to refer to the Sept. 11 terror attacks as “terrorist attacks.”
The memo was outed by Warren Kinsella, a Canadian journalist who confirmed the existence of the memo to The Jerusalem Post.
Written by Basem Boshra, the senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC News, the memo contained a section pertaining to “longstanding language guidance.”
“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” the section read. “The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan. The World Trade Center (WTC in second reference) was destroyed.”
The story is in @TheTorontoSun. https://t.co/y2Bw7XpNyh pic.twitter.com/9bG2hgkNcK
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) August 27, 2026
After being confronted with the memo, a CBC spokesperson defended it, saying it’s the network’s practice to “exercise extreme caution before using the words terrorist and terrorism.”
“The memo was a reminder of the longstanding practice that favors the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also pointed to an October 2023 blog by CBC editor-in-chief and general manager Brodie Fenlon.
“CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism, regardless of the region or the events, because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion that they can end up being impediments to our journalism,” the blog post read.
“While the language is not seriously disputed in some cases, it’s less clear if not highly contested at other times – which can lead to virtually endless questions about consistency and impartiality in our coverage of various attacks around the world,” it continued.
These excuses have done little to temper a rising tide of growing anger against the CBC coming from both inside Canada and also the U.S. government:
Any agency in Canada that doesn’t publicly reject this bastardization of history, and an insult to the souls lost during our largest terrorist attack in US history will no longer have friend in this FBI… Not to mention our heroes that responded in the aftermath
WE WILL NEVER…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) August 28, 2026
Canadian MP Rachel Thomas told the Post that the memo is “absolutely shameful.”
“The CBC is choosing to redefine terrorism in a way that downplays the atrocity of 9/11,” she continued. “Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonors the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day. 9/11 was an act of terrorism. Full stop.”
Kinsella, for his part, penned a whole column at the Toronto Sun tearing into the CBC for its misguided decision.
“A falsehood is a falsehood,” he wrote. “We tell our kids that, too. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which all of us gave $1.57 billion in 2025-26, operates under different rules. It tells us lies about history and reality.”
“And the historical reality is that thousands of innocents were murdered 25 years ago, by terrorists. We all know that, we all call it that. At CBC, they don’t care. They do and say whatever the hell they want to,” he added.
What possible motive could there be for sanitizing the worst terrorist attack on American soil? Care to explain, @Canada? https://t.co/UevmkLADTE
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) August 27, 2026
This scandal comes as President Donald Trump is pushing to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America in retaliation for burdensome tariffs that America’s northern neighbor just imposed on it.
According to comedian Ben Bankas, the name change makes perfect sense.
“That’s why it’s Lake America now mfs,” Bankas tweeted on Thursday in response to reports about the CBC’s scandalous mistake.
Meanwhile, small business advocate Kim G.C. Moody has called for the CBC, which is publicly funded, to lose its grants.
“I would be wholly in support to significantly reduce funding to the CBC solely because of this,” he wrote in a tweet before going on to describe how much the public corporation has fallen in recent days.
“But, believe me, CBC has gone so downhill from the days of my youth – Knowlton Nash and Barbara Frum – that it deserves either a significant re-think and / or defunding. I am not in favor of my taxation dollars funding garbage like this,” he concluded.
