Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office published a news release about the 200th anniversary of the Battle of York on Friday.

680News reporter Irene Preklet started doing research to cover the story and discovered part of the news release is nearly identical to … Wikipedia!

The release describes the battle as follows:

“The Battle of York was a battle of the War of 1812-1814 fought on April 27, 1813, at York (Toronto), Upper Canada, on the northwest shore of Lake Ontario. An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lakeshore to the west, defeated the defending British, Canadian and First Nations forces, and captured the fort, town, and dockyard.”

Wikipedia describes it as such:

“The Battle of York was a battle of the War of 1812 fought on April 27, 1813, at York, Upper Canada (present day Toronto) on the north-west shore of Lake Ontario. An American force supported by a naval flotilla landed on the lake shore to the west, defeated the defending British force and captured the fort, town and dockyard. The Americans themselves suffered heavy casualties, including Brigadier General Zebulon Pike who was leading the troops, when the retreating British blew up the fort’s magazine.”

Wikipedia describes itself as a resource where “almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site.”

680News has contacted the Prime Minister’s Office to get their response.

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