Canadian 9/11 widow 'appalled' by CBC policy against using term 'terrorist attack'

A 9/11 widow is “appalled” and “angry” after the CBC told staff in a leaked memo to not refer to 9/11 as “terrorist attacks.”

Maureen Basnicki, of Collingwood, Ont., lost her husband, Ken Basnicki, who was trapped on the 106th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center during the attack. Their children, Brennan and Erica, were 16 and 21 years old at the time.

Maureen Basnicki told National Post that she was “dismayed” when she saw reports of the leaked missive.

“I had an interview with some very friendly, kind, sympathetic journalists just the day before, to be aired on September the 11th. So it was ironic that I had just interacted with some CBC employees,” she said.

“To know that this directive was sent, and at the management level, there’s not enough adjectives out there to describe my reaction. I was more than dismayed; I was angry.”

With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on the horizon, CBC issued a memo reminding reporters and editors across its platforms of the policy on the language used to describe the event.

The missive from the broadcaster’s journalistic standards and practices office, a copy of which was obtained by National Post, includes a section of the “longstanding language guidance” on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives — including at least 24 Canadians.

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” it reads. “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 letter is signed BB, who is identified by Toronto Sun as Basem Boshra, senior director of journalistic standards and public trust at CBC News.

Bit irritated by suggestions by some that this isn't authentic. It's authentic. And, for anyone who has been paying attention (or read my book), they'd actually know this is quite consistent with past CBC approaches. pic.twitter.com/IcnLrTVHkJ

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) August 26, 2026

Basnicki, who is a former Air Canada flight attendant, said her husband was murdered in a terrorist attack. “That’s a factual statement,” she said. “And to have the likes of CBC, who is supposed to be our Canadian broadcasting company, to make such a statement just appalls me.”

She added that when people say she lost her husband, she tends to correct them. “He was murdered,” she said.

“When CBC tries to lessen the significance of a terrorist attack, it just muddies the waters. Call it for what it is factually, and acknowledge that (terrorism) is still a threat to our Canadian society.”

Rachael Thomas, the Conservative shadow minister for Canadian identity and culture, said the CBC directive “ diminishes the reality of what actually occurred” and called it “ an insult” to victims and their families.

“ 9/11 was a terrorist attack, plain and simple,” she said in a statement calling for the CBC to apologize. “Canadians deserve a public broadcaster that tells the truth: that terrorists attacked and murdered thousands of innocent people on 9/11 and they should have no difficulty saying so.”

Kerry Kelly, a public affairs spokesperson for CBC, previously told National Post in an email that “it is wholly inaccurate to state our journalists have been urged to declare that this was not a terrorist act.”

Rather, she said the memo was a regular reminder about adhering to the CBC’s language guide for the terms “terrorist” and “terrorism.”

“CBC preferences use of these words with attribution to credible sources, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations,” Kelly wrote, pointing to an October 2023 blog by Brodie Fenlon, CBC News editor-in-chief and general manager.

He was writing in response to a similarly leaked memo to staff regarding the use of the same words in reporting about Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel that had occurred a week earlier.

Staff will use the terms, he said, but they will always be “attributed to government officials, authorities, experts and politicians.” He added that “CBC News does not itself designate specific groups as terrorists, or specific acts as terrorism … because these words are so loaded with meaning, politics and emotion,” and noted that the policy has existed for decades.

Elsewhere, CBC Ombudsman Maxime Bertrand addressed the policy in March while responding to a complaint about coverage of Israel and Gaza.

She called the policy a “necessary safeguard” but added that “it doesn’t guarantee ethical clarity or eliminate the potential for unconscious bias.”

“In practice, sensitivity to language and power relations demands constant vigilance and nuanced reflection. Essentially, journalists cannot be too careful,” she said.

Previous CBC ombuds have also addressed the policy, with Kirk LaPointe writing in 2011 that some view using the terms “terrorism” and “terrorists” as a signal that a journalist has taken a side, which “undercuts the credibility of reporting.” However, he also acknowledged that avoidance of the term can be seen as a political statement.

Meanwhile, Esther Enkin, in 2013, said that the CBC “recognizes the need for caution when using these terms,” and that the emphasis on specific language is “so that the audience members can make up their own minds.”

Basnicki, however, said she never wants 9/11 to be sanitized. “People don’t like to dwell on hate and horror,” she said. “But we haven’t won the war against terror.”

She said it’s important to teach younger generations what happened that day and to show gratitude to men and women of service, which is why she hopes Canadians will embrace Service Day every Sept. 11.

On the morning of the attacks, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners in the continental United States.

Two of the aircraft were flown into the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan — both of which would collapse — another was slammed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the terrorists.

Al-Qaeda is listed on the UN Security Council Sanctions List as a terrorist network.

Since the 9/11 attacks, Basnicki has become an advocate for counter-terror policies and an outspoken activist for the rights of Canadian terror victims.

She is the founder of Canadian National Day of Service Foundation and co-founder of Canadian Coalition Against Terror, and contributed to the passing of the Justice for Victims of Terror Act , which allows victims of terrorism to sue attackers and their supporters. She also advocated for the passage of the Canadian Victims Bill of Rights , which provides the rights to information, protection, participation and to seek restitution for the victims of crime.

In 2012, she received Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for “her enduring dialogue on terrorism” and is the driving force behind Canada’s National Day of Service on Sept. 11.

Its purpose is to celebrate and show gratitude to Canadians who have served our country, Basnicki said. “Especially our Canadian armed forces that went to Afghanistan, and the firefighters and police officers who went down to New York post 9/11 to help communities.”

• CBC tells staff not to call 9/11 a 'terrorist attack'
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