The director of the FBI and Conservatives had criticized the public broadcaster for its editorial policy
Low-angle exterior view of the Canadian Broadcasting Centre with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Societe Radio-Canada branding visible on the facade in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on May 5, 2026. (Photo by Martin Bertrand / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)
CBC News says it’s changing its editorial policy to not use the word “terrorist” when referring to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States without attribution, after its recently publicized policy was criticized on both sides of the border.
The backlash comes after a memo penned by CBC News senior director of journalistic standards and public trust Basem Boshra was made public this week which reminded staff to “not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks” as the 25th anniversary of the tragedy approaches.
In a new “editor’s blog” post on CBC News on Aug. 28, Boshra said that the leaked memo was “published and amplified by a number of outlets without full context or explanation.”
“After reviewing our current language guidance, we have decided to adjust it to clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism,” Boshra said.
Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller, whose department oversees the publicly funded CBC, welcomed the changed policy on social media on Aug. 28, calling it a “welcome change to what was a piece of pedantic and foolish guidance that caused legitimate anger.”
A day before, FBI Director Kash Patel had criticized the Canadian public broadcaster’s previous policy.
“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 [a] friend in this FBI… Not to mention our heroes that responded in the aftermath,” Patel wrote.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra shared Patel’s comment on social media and noted that the FBI has been “directly responsible” for thwarting terrorist and criminal operations in Canada.
“Failure to recognize and confront radical and terrorist ideologies significantly endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a shared national and economic security partnership,” he said.
Chair of the U.S. House Republican Conference and Michigan Congresswoman Lisa McClain shared similar thoughts.
“9/11 was the WORST TERRORIST ATTACK in American history. Period,” she wrote on social media. “Canada (the radical left) REFUSING to call it what it was is insane. Apologize to America. Apologize to the victims and their families.”
Without mentioning the CBC, Canada’s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said on Aug. 28 that the government of Canada has “always recognized 9/11 as the deadliest terrorist attack in history.”
“Canada’s condemnation of 9/11 as a terrorist attack is not merely a political position — it is written into Canadian law. In direct response to the attacks, Parliament passed the Anti-terrorism Act, 2001 (Bill C-36), which gave Canada its first legal definition of ’terrorist activity’ and made terrorism-related conduct a criminal offence,” Anandasangaree said in a statement.
“We continue to stand with our American neighbours, and with the families of the 24 Canadians who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.”
CBC had previously defended its editorial policy, saying it’s standard practice for the public broadcaster to use “extreme caution before using the words terrorist and terrorism.”
“The memo was a reminder of the longstanding practice that favours the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations,” CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly said in a statement to The Epoch Times earlier on Aug. 28, before the announcement of the updated policy.
Kelly said the CBC’s job is to accurately report the facts, to quote the people affected, and to convey the views of officials and experts when atrocities occur.
People flee as the World Trade Center collapses after two hijacked planes struck the towers in a terrorist attack in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
“We bear witness,” she added. “But 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 Conservatives also criticized the CBC directive. Tory MP Rachel Thomas, whose shadow minister portfolio of Canadian Identity and Culture includes scrutiny over the public broadcaster, said the directive is “shameful.”
She noted that 24 Canadians were among the thousands killed by al-Qaeda during the series of attacks that caused two planes to strike the World Trade Centre, one to hit the Pentagon in Virginia, and another to crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
She also accused CBC News in a separate post of redefining terrorism “in a way that downplays the atrocity of 9/11.”
“Refusing to call it an act of terrorism dishonours the victims, their families, the survivors, and the first responders who witnessed the horrors of that day,” said Thomas. “Trying to sanitize or rewrite that history is deeply offensive and does a disservice to everyone who was affected by the attacks.”
Thomas is demanding CBC “issue a clear apology” and said the person responsible for the memo should be fired.
Fellow Tory MP Andrew Lawton commented on the issue as well, calling the broadcaster’s policy “truly disgusting.”
“CBC journalists have been directed not to refer to what happened on 9/11 as terrorist attacks,” he wrote. “Taxpayers give CBC $1.4 billion every year to be gaslit.”
CBC is expected to receive $1.38 billion in federal government funding for fiscal 2026-2027, down from the $1.58 billion designated for the public broadcaster in the previous fiscal year.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has frequently described the public broadcaster as “the most important of Canadian institutions.”
He included CBC as a pillar in his election campaign last spring, saying a well-funded public broadcaster is crucial for preserving Canadian culture and national identity while serving as a reliable forum to counter foreign misinformation.
Ongoing Policy
The publicly funded broadcaster has also come under scrutiny by the Opposition for telling its journalists not to use the word “terrorist” when referring to Hamas in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israeli civilians.
The public broadcaster, in a leaked email from then-CBC director of journalistic standards George Achi, advised journalists against saying Gaza has not been occupied by Israel since 2005, and instructed them not to refer to “militants, soldiers, or anyone else” as “terrorists.”
The instructions came after Hamas launched rocket attacks on Israel, killed 1,200 civilians, and took hostages, including children, to Gaza.
The Conservatives and some members of the public demanded an investigation into the matter. An inquiry by the broadcaster’s ombudsman later found that CBC had not breached its own journalistic standards by avoiding the use of the word “terrorist.”
“CBC’s practice of referring to Hamas as terrorists only with attribution adheres to the corporation’s journalistic standards,” then-CBC Ombudsman Jack Nagler said in his decision.
Kelly told The Epoch Times that CBC News editor in chief and general manager Brodie Fenlon addressed the matter in an October 2023 blog post, noting that the broadcaster’s policy hasn’t changed and also applies to content about 9/11.
The 9/11 terror plot was the most lethal series of terrorist attacks in U.S. history. The al-Qaeda-orchestrated attacks killed 2,976 people and injured thousands more.
Al-Qaeda has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States since 1999. Public Safety Canada listed the organization as a terror group in 2002.