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In the face of worldwide public outcry and a dressing down by the Carney government, CBC has announced that its journalists can, in fact, call the 9/11 attacks terrorism. The issue, and the outcry, arose after a CBC executive issued a memo earlier this week warning journalists not to call the attacks terrorism.

The entire email, reminding journalists of CBC’s longstanding and misguided policy, was obtained by Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella .

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” read the memo from Basem Boshra, CBC’s Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust.

“The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania and Manhattan,” the memo states.

Kinsella confirmed the email and its content with CBC, which defended the policy.

“CBC’s longstanding language guidance regarding the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ is a preference for the use of these words with attribution, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations,” wrote spokesperson Kerry Kelly in an email to Kinsella.

Kelly pointed to a blog post by CBC Editor-in-Chief Brodie Fenlon from October 2023, just after the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, which, of course, CBC refused to call terrorist attacks.

“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,” he wrote .

They knew better

The whole world knows that 9/11 was a terrorist attack. Even those who backed it would agree, even if they were celebrating it. They were attacks on civilians meant to send a political message and invoke terror within the wider population.

The members of al-Qaida wanted us to feel terror, and we did, but we also fought back. CBC, meanwhile, spent years explaining why the war on terror was wrong, not just the parts that clearly went off the rails.

Now, after being denounced by news outlets around the world, and after having top American government officials take issue with CBC’s position, they are changing their guidance for journalists.

But only for 9/11. On every other terrorism story, CBC reserves the right to keep playing word games.

“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 Friday in a public blog post . “We are doing so to remove what has unfortunately (and unintentionally) become an impediment to clarity and public understanding.”

While they are offering clarity on the 9/11 attacks, CBC will continue to be ambiguous about other acts of terrorism around the world.

“At the same time, as new acts of politically or ideologically motivated violence occur in our world, we will continue to follow the journalistically sound practice of attributing causes and motivations to officials and experts,” Boshra wrote.

A double standard

That means they still don’t have to call Hamas a terrorist group. They don’t need to call what happened on Oct. 7, 2023, a terrorist attack.

CBC’s use of the words terrorist and terrorism is spotty at best.

In a story on the killing of the Afzaal family that was published in June , near the five-year anniversary of the attack, CBC called it a terrorist attack in the opening paragraph. That’s the right thing to do because not only were four people brutally killed, but the life of the young boy who survived was changed forever in an attack that met any definition of terrorism.

The man behind that attack is now facing a life sentence after being convicted of terrorism.

CBC can’t be politically selective in how and when it chooses to use these words, and yet that is how it seems.

Of course, our state broadcaster didn’t make this change without pressure from government. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree issued a statement condemning the 9/11 attacks without mentioning CBC, though the intention was clear.

“The Government of Canada has always recognized 9/11 as the deadliest terrorist attack in history, and we unequivocally condemn terrorism in all its forms. No cause, grievance, or ideology can ever justify the deliberate targeting of civilians,” Anandasangaree said in an email sent to the Parliamentary Press Gallery at 4:14 p.m., exactly 30 minutes before Boshra’s post went up.

Please see my statement on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. pic.twitter.com/MtLWQEpIs5

— Gary Anandasangaree (@gary_srp) August 28, 2026

Anandasangaree noted the 40,000 Canadians who served in the Canadian Armed Forces, including the 158 members who died. He referenced the hospitality offered in Gander to diverted American planes.

The minister responsible for CBC, Marc Miller, took to social media to welcome the change.

“A welcome change to what was a piece of pedantic and foolish guidance that caused legitimate anger,” Miller wrote.

A welcome change to what was a piece of pedantic and foolish guidance that caused legitimate anger. How and why CBC News will adjust its 9/11 language guidance | CBC News https://t.co/W64NXrj6s0

— Marc Miller ᐅᑭᒫᐃᐧᐅᓃᐸᐄᐧᐤᐃᔨᐣ Mikotsikaa (@MarcMillerVM) August 28, 2026

Including anger among the Canadian families who lost loved ones in the attacks. The guidance from CBC was foolish, it remains foolish for the rest of their policy, but I welcome the Carney government making their views known.

“We continue to stand with our American neighbours, and with the families of the 24 Canadians who lost their lives on September 11, 2001,” Anandasangaree wrote.

Don’t rewrite history

Yes, of the 2,977 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, not counting the terrorists, 24 of them were Canadian.

In two weeks, we mark the 25th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack in modern history, one that claimed 24 Canadian lives.

Don’t let CBC change the language or the reality of what happened.

  • OPINION: Open complaint to CBC over not calling 9/11 ‘terrorist attack’
  • LILLEY: If CBC can’t call 9/11 terrorism, why should anyone trust it?