Canada

Does a video depict South African firefighters dancing at a Canadian airport on their way to help battle the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires? No, that's not true: A video showing 200 South African firefighters singing and clapping together was actually recorded in 2023 as they arrived at the Edmonton International Airport to help fight Canadian wildfires. A South African news…

Do filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission prove the United States "owns" Canada? No, that's not true: The filings are standard procedure when a foreign country wants to sell securities in the United States. The Form 18-K is specifically "for Foreign Governments and Political Subdivisions." The United States has filed similar paperwork in the United Kingdom. The claim originated…

Was a "mysterious fog" spotted in various areas of the world in late December 2024 something that cannot be explained? No, that's not true: There have been several regions that experienced heavy fog in late December, but there is no evidence that it is anything other than naturally occurring fog. One medical sociologist wrote in an article that social media…

Did a menorah get deliberately knocked down on December 19, 2024, in Toronto, as a social media post implied? No, that's not true: Toronto police confirmed to Lead Stories that a car accident resulted in the menorah being knocked down that day. They said there were no other incidents that day involving menorahs. The claim appeared in a post (archived…

Does a photograph shared on Facebook genuinely show a "horrific accident" in which "at least 135 people died after a truck collided with a bus"? No, that's not true: While the photo is real it was first shared to X on June 14, 2021, following a chemical plant fire in Illinois. Nobody was killed at the time of that fire.…

Did Canada ban President-elect Donald Trump from entering the country as of November 2024 because of his felony conviction? No, that's not true: A person is only declared inadmissible when they try to cross into the country, and no credible source reported that Trump tried to enter Canada before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited him in Florida. Contrary to…

Were COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by military contractors rather than by Pfizer and Moderna? No, that's not true: FDA inspection records show the vaccines were made in drug industry labs. Pfizer pointed Lead Stories to publicly available documents about its facilities in Belgium, Germany and at least two locations in the U.S., including Kalamazoo, Michigan. Under Operation Warp Speed, the government…

Does a CNN video show Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau crying in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pledge in November 2024 to slap tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S.? No, that's not true: The video is from 2017 and shows Trudeau becoming emotional over the death of Canadian musician Gord Downie. The 2017 clip has been edited, and…

Did Taylor Swift announce she will move to Canada in response to the 2024 U.S. presidential election results, saying "Goodbye US, I Love Canada"? No, that's not true: The post supplied no evidence she made any such public statement. Independent searches found no credible news media outlets have reported this as of November 22, 2024. The claim was posted to…

Did the Financial Times publish a video on social media reporting that "a Bombardier employee deliberately defaced aircraft parts to protest the company's return to the Russian market"? No that's not true: The Financial Times did not publish this report, and there are no credible reports of this type of employee sabotage happening at the Canadian aviation company. The post…

Did President-elect Donald Trump say that if he was elected, he would personally have Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrested if Trudeau sets one foot in the United States? No, that's not true: This is an AI-generated voiceover that has been added to a video clip of Trump. The original TikTok video was marked with the hashtag "fake video." The…

Does a recording on social media show Jordan Peterson discussing Antarctica on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast? No, that's not true: In the authentic Joe Rogan recording featuring Peterson, the Canadian psychologist does not mention Antarctica. AI detection tool True Media found substantial evidence the audio in the post was generated by AI. Lead Stories has previously fact checked similar…

Did Elon Musk publicly announce plans to "officially" buy McDonald's in November 2024? No, that's not true: As of this publication, there is no record of Musk having formally announced plans to buy the food company, and McDonald's has not reported such a purchase. Furthermore, an online AI detector tool found that images published in the post that depicted Musk…

Does a video authentically show Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland swaying oddly on a podium? No, that's not true: A video splices together parts of a press conference video where Freeland pauses to allow journalists to ask questions. A "warp effect" has been added to exaggerate Freeland's facial expressions and body movements as she reacts to reporters. The claim…

Does a photo of a ballot prove that a Canadian citizen was able to cast a vote for Donald Trump because there is no voter ID law in the United States? No, that's not true: The absentee ballot in the photo showing a vote for Trump was copied from a Florida voter's social media post. The post from a person…

Is an image of a catastrophic plane crash on a bridge authentic? No, that's not true: The image is a digital art creation by Canadian graphic designer Steve McGhee. The original piece of art titled "All Is Lost - Redux" was altered to make it harder to trace its origin through a reverse image search. The claim appeared in a…

Do photos showing luxurious mansions depict the real Quebec childhood home of Vice President Kamala Harris and prove she was not raised in a middle-class family? No, that's not true: The images in this post display houses not found on the street where she lived in Montreal, the main city in Canada's Quebec province. At least one of the photos…

Do two reels posted to Facebook authentically show clips of tornadoes that occurred in Dubai and Canada? No, that's not true: Experts told Lead Stories that the twisters shown in the clips were fake and 100 percent AI-generated content. There are prominent elements in the videos that indicate manipulation and editing have been used to create them. One claim originated…

Does a 2017 paper on resveratrol suggest it could be used to stop or treat monkeypox as part of the public health emergency declared in August 2024? No, that's not true: An author of the paper told Lead Stories that resveratrol was never tested on humans or animals in their research, and it's "unclear if it suppresses poxvirus replication." An…

Did the World Health Organization order governments to "Prepare for 'Mega Lockdowns' Due to 'Deadly Monkeypox' Strain"? No, that's not true: WHO responded to a Lead Stories inquiry about the report of orders for lockdown preparation with "It is false." Preparations for or even the suggestion of major lockdowns because of the monkeypox virus would be major news worldwide, yet…