The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has scrapped an internal directive that instructed its journalists to avoid describing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as terrorism, a policy that drew immediate condemnation from political figures on both sides of the border.
The now-reversed guidance, first reported by The Toronto Sun, was issued in a memo by Basem Boshra, the CBC's senior director of journalistic standards and public trust. Boshra had told staff to "not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks," a phrasing that triggered an uproar less than two weeks before the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
FBI Director Kash Patel was among the first to publicly criticize the policy, taking to social media on Wednesday to urge other leaders to join him in condemning it. "Failure to recognize and confront radical and terrorist ideologies significantly endangers our efforts to establish and harmonize a shared national and economic security partnership," Patel wrote, citing the FBI's recent counterterrorism work with Canadian authorities.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra echoed that sentiment in a post Friday morning, hours before the CBC walked back the directive. "Just this year, @FBI has been instrumental in or directly responsible for multiple disruptions of significant terrorist and violent criminal organizations operating within Canada," Hoekstra said, warning that downplaying terrorist threats undermines cross-border security cooperation.
Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also weighed in, demanding the CBC "immediately apologize and retract this directive." In a social media post, Poilievre called the guidance "an appalling distortion of history," adding that it "dishonours the victims and their families, the survivors, and the first responders who suffered from the horrors of that day."
Facing mounting backlash, Boshra issued a statement Friday announcing the policy change. He explained that the CBC's general language guidance typically requires attribution for terms like "terrorist" and "terrorism," but acknowledged that applying that rule to the 9/11 attacks was a mistake. "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 wrote. "We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding."
The controversy lands amid an escalating trade war between the United States and Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada would retaliate against President Trump's 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods "dollar for dollar," a move that has further strained relations. Trump has also threatened additional import taxes and signed an executive order to rename "Lake Ontario" as "Lake America," a symbolic gesture that has added to the tension.
The CBC's reversal is likely to be seen as a victory for critics who argued that journalistic neutrality should not extend to whitewashing the nature of the 9/11 attacks. The episode also highlights the delicate balance public broadcasters must strike between editorial guidelines and public accountability, especially when international allies are involved.
