The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation instructed journalists not to describe the attacks as terrorism without attribution
The FBI temporarily suspended some cooperation with its Canadian counterpart this month after the country’s public broadcaster instructed journalists not to refer to the 9/11 attacks as terrorism without attribution to experts or authorities, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing officials familiar with the matter.
According to the NYT, FBI officials canceled meetings with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Normal cooperation was restored around the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reversed its stance.
In response to the NYT report, RCMP Commissioner Mark Duheme said: “We value our relationship with our US counterparts, as we work closely to respond to threats to national security and maintain situational awareness of emerging risks.”
The controversy erupted late last month when a CBC memo was leaked to the Canadian press. The broadcaster explained that its “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.”
The memo sparked outrage in the US, where nearly 3,000 people were killed 25 years ago when Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes and crashed two into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon outside Washington, DC. The fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. FBI Director Kash Patel described the CBC’s stance as a “bastardization of history” and an insult to the victims.
Following the backlash, the CBC said it was updating its language guidance to “clarify that direct attribution is not required for describing the historic events of 9/11 as terrorism.” The broadcaster denied, however, that any of its news reports implied that the attacks were not terrorism.
The incident added to a broader feud between the neighbors after talks on a new trade deal abruptly collapsed last month, with both sides blaming each other. US President Donald Trump has suggested that Canada should become “the 51st US state” and recently instructed federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario, which straddles the US-Canada border, as Lake America.
The talks broke down after the two sides failed to agree on tariffs and other issues, including US objections to Canadian rules protecting French-language and domestic cultural content.
Following a falling out with Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed interest in the country becoming the EU’s first associate member. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the offer earlier this week.
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