To Marie‑Philippe Bouchard, President and CEO of CBC/Radio‑Canada, and Brodie Fenlon, General Manager and Editor‑in‑Chief of CBC News:

We, the undersigned, are astonished and enraged by reports that Basem Boshra — the CBC executive responsible for “Journalistic Standards and Public Trust” — ordered journalists:

“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks.”

This is not neutrality. It denies the settled historical character of what occurred.

On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger aircraft and deliberately used them as weapons. They murdered 2,977 innocent civilians, including 24 Canadians. The planes did not merely “crash.” This was coordinated terrorism.

CBC’s general preference to attribute words such as “terrorist” cannot justify obscuring an indisputable fact. Anyone entrusted with defending journalistic standards who issues such a directive has failed both CBC journalists and the Canadian public.

We demand that CBC immediately terminate Basem Boshra, withdraw this directive, release the complete memo, disclose who approved it and apologize publicly to the victims’ families.

If the quotation is inaccurate, release the memo and prove it. If it is accurate, act now.

Fire Basem Boshra. Withdraw the directive. Tell the truth.