Category: Procedural

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University Of Ottawa Files Anti-SLAPP Motion In $7 Million Defamation Suit

This is a follow-up to an August 2022 piece that outlined a defamation claim between Kulvinder Gill, the University of Ottawa, and a professor named Amir Attaran. Attaran and the University were sued for $7 million back in March 2021 over 2 insulting tweets.

Finally, there seems to be some movement. The Defendants have initiated an anti-SLAPP Motion to get the lawsuit thrown out as “gag proceedings”, or as an attempt to shut down public discourse. The hearing is set for October of 2024, a year from now.

Attaran himself responded to an inquiry, and confirmed that it’s a SLAPP Motion. He said that his demands for a public apology had been refused, and now he wants his day in Court.

Ontario has an online search tool, which makes it easy to track how cases are progressing. Court documents are also considered public records, and are open to anyone, with limited exceptions.

A Notice of Intent was filed back in June 2021, although not an actual Statement of Defence. Then the case sat idly for over 2 years. Looking at the content in the Statement of Claim, it’s not hard to see why. The quotes are from page 9.

As an aside, the date in Paragraph 34 is wrong. It references a July 28th, 2021 article, which would have been after this suit was filed.

This idiot is a doctor in Ontario. Sort of a female version of Dr. Scott Atlas.

Looks like the flying monkeys are out today for Dr. Gill.
Research shows the Russian military intelligence (the GRU) are behind the anti-science COVID conspiracy social media.
So with love from Canada.

The suit is frivolous, to put it mildly. Gill is suing for millions over a Twitter spat, which included the above statements. Anti-SLAPP laws (Section 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act for Ontario) are meant to protect against this sort of thing.

The first tweet is insulting, but is unlikely to be considered defamation. The second one appears to be Attaran just trolling Gill.

Even if Attaran genuinely views Gill as an idiot, these remarks — while distasteful — would probably be viewed as opinion, and protected as fair comment.

An additional problem is that Gill will most likely be unable to prove that she suffered any damages as a result of these comments. Twitter is known as a cesspool, where people say rude and insulting things.

She’ll also find it difficult to convince a Judge that shutting down discourse like this will be in the public interest. Understandably, the the Courts tend to lean towards protecting speech and expression.

It’s worth pointing out there’s no requirement that speech or expression be beneficial or helpful in order to be protected as public expression. As long as it’s on a subject that a segment of the population might care about, then s.137.1 applies. The above comments were in the context of arguing over lockdown measures.

With these things in mind, the anti-SLAPP Motion is certain to prevail.

Posting these kinds of comments online won’t damage Gill’s reputation or her work prospects. However, suing over them just makes her look unhinged or vindictive.

Gill was also abandoned by previous counsel. It’s unclear, at least from what’s available here, who will be representing her at this Motion. As the 2024 date draws near, expect an update, along with more filings.

In other news:

This also isn’t Gill’s first attempt at silencing critics. February 2024, a $12.75 million suit was thrown out as a SLAPP. In October 2022, she and Ashvinder Lamba — but mostly just Gill — were ordered to pay over $1.1 million in fees to the Defendants’ lawyers. Back in December 2020, she and Lamba sued 23 people and organizations over essentially the same type of comments as this.

Instead of paying costs — as they likely can’t afford to — the ruling was appealed. It has just dragged on. At least 1 of the Respondents has made accusations that the Appeal is an attempt to circumvent the costs Order. A hearing is scheduled next week to determine whether costs must be put up in advance by Gill. More on that later.

It’s bizarre that Gill had been embraced by the “freedom movement” over the last few years. She’s done more to attempt to chill free speech in Canada than just about anyone.

DOCUMENTS
(1) Gill-Attaran Statement Of Claim
(2) Gill Attaran Affidavit Of Service
(3) Gill-Attaran Notice Of Intent
(4) Gill-Attaran Counsel Abandons Plaintiff

OTHER
(1) https://www.ontario.ca/page/search-court-cases-online
(2) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-c43/latest/#sec137.1_smooth
(3) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc1279/2022onsc1279.html
(4) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc6169/2022onsc6169.html
(5) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/laws/stat/rso-1990-c-l12/latest/rso-1990-c-l12.html
(6) https://canucklaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/Notice-of-Appeal-and-Appellants-Certificate-Gill-2.pdf

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Respondent Lawyers Accused Of Misconduct In Action4Canada Appeal

It’s interesting what people can do when motivated. October 13th, this piece went out, publishing that the Action4Canada Appeal had been listed as “inactive” due to a failure to schedule the hearing.

Less than a week later, it’s been announced that the case has been removed from the “inactive” listings, and a hearing booked for February 14th, 2024.

Further details: Action4Canada filed an appeal on Sept. 28, 2022 and the Respondents filed their response by January 2023. The appeal could have been before the Appeal Court within 6 months however, the Respondents were not cooperative in setting a timely date. Rocco’s office consistently made every effort to work with all parties involved. If a court date is not set within a year the file is automatically put on an ‘inactive’ list. This transpired on Sept. 28, 2023 and was due to the Respondents’ ongoing delays in setting a date.

The update is accurate, at least in the sense that Appeals are automatically considered inactive if a Notice of Hearing isn’t filed within a year of the Notice of Appeal. That part is true. Section 50 of the B.C. Court of Appeal Rules spells this out.

However, it’s probably not a good idea to go around accusing the Respondent/Defendant lawyers of attempting to delay and sabotage the hearing of the Appeal. It seems unlikely that this would be protected under anti-SLAPP laws.

On the off chance that this is true, some receipts would be nice.

Also, delaying the case would make no sense from their perspective. The Appeal is baseless — as has been covered here — and focuses primarily on issues that a B.C. Civil Court has no jurisdiction to grant. It revolves around Paragraph 52 in Justice Ross’ ruling. This would be an easy case to get thrown out.

This also isn’t the first time that Government lawyers have been accused of deliberately stalling this case. Back in late 2020, there were claims that the B.C. officials had delayed service by 2 1/2 months.

This makes little sense either, as the 391 page Notice of Civil Claim, or NOCC, was a convoluted mess that was doomed to fail from the outset.

Looking at the big picture, Action4Canada has been fundraising for about 3 1/2 years now and still hasn’t put forward a valid NOCC. This will never get to Trial.

In other news:

(1) The Federal Court of Appeals will hear the Appeal of some 600+ Plaintiffs — both Government workers and employees of Federally regulated industries — on November 8th, 2023. See the background information here.

(2) Vaccine Choice Canada will be in Court for 2 days, January 30 and February 1st, 2024. This is to finally have the hearing to strike out the July 6, 2020 Claim. For anyone wondering why it took so long, it’s because it took 2 1/2 years to have a first appearance.

Factums (arguments) are due starting in November, and will be provided.

(3) Vaccine Choice’s other case, from October 2019, hasn’t gotten past the pleading stages. This is despite being filed 4 years ago. It may very well be dismissed for delay soon.

Update: Shortly after this was published, Action4Canada made significant changes to their October 19, 2023 update. They removed references to the Respondent lawyers deliberately delaying the hearing of the Appeal. Guess someone had to explain that these kind of accusations are a bad idea. Without receipts or other proof, a defamation claim was quite possible.

Remember to donate!

ACTION4CANADA APPEAL DOCUMENTS:
(1) A4C Notice Of Appeal September 28 2022
(2) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – VIHA
(3) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – BC Defendants
(4) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – Attorney General of Canada
(5) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – Peter Kwok, Translink
(6) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – BC Ferries, Brittney Sylvester
(7) A4C Appeal – Appeal Book – Appellant
(8) A4C Appeal – Appeal Book – Respondent VIH And PHC
(9) A4C Appeal – Appeal Record – Stand Alone Respondents VIHA
(10) A4C Appeal – Appeal Record – Stand Alone
(11) A4C Appeal – Factum – Appellant
(12) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent Attorney General Of Canada
(13) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent BC Ferries and Brittney Sylvester
(14) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent HMK -Provincial Defendants
(15) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent Peter Kwok and Translink
(16) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent VIHA and Providence Health
(17) A4C Appeal – Consent Order – Factum, Time Limits
(18) A4C Appeal – Change In Representation – BC Defendants
(19) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Hearing February 2024

ACTION4CANADA BCSC DOCUMENTS:
(1) A4C BCSC – Notice Of Civil Claim
(2) A4C BCSC – Response to Civil Claim (Health Authority Defendants)
(3) A4C BCSC – Response to Civil Claim (Provincial Defendants)
(4) A4C BCSC – Affidavit No 1 of Rebecca Hill
(5) A4C BCSC – Notice of Application (AG and RCMP applies to strike)
(6) A4C BCSC – Notice of Application (Provincial Defendants applies to strike)
(7) A4C BCSC – Notice of Application (Translink applies to strike)
(8) A4C BCSC – Application Response (Health Authority Defendants consent to strike)
(9) A4C BCSC – Application Response (BC Ferries consents to strike)
(10) A4C BCSC – Application Response (AG and RCMP consent to Prov. strike application)
(11) A4C BCSC – Application Response (Translink consents to HA Defendants strike application)
(12) A4C BCSC – Application Response (Translink consents to Prov. strike application)
(13) A4C BCSC – Affidavit No 2 of Rebecca Hill
(14) A4C BCSC – Application Record (to strike)
(15) A4C BCSC – Application Response (all plaintiffs)
(16) A4C BCSC – Amended Application Response (all plaintiffs)
(17) A4C BCSC – Transcript Application To Strike
(18) A4C BCSC – Reasons For Striking NOCC In Its Entirety
(19) A4C BCSC – Order striking pleadings
(20) A4C BCSC – Order striking pleading in its entirety with costs payable forthwith
(21) A4C BCSC – Appointment to assess bill of costs for Kwok and Translink
(22) A4C BCSC – Notice of Discontinuance (Kimberly Woolman & Estate of Jaqueline Woolman)
(23) A4C BCSC – Notice of Discontinuance (Amy Muranetz)
(24) A4C BCSC – Notice of Discontinuance (Federico Fuoco & Fire Productions Ltd.)

OTHER:
(1) https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2022/2022bcsc1507/2022bcsc1507.html
(2) https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/Website/media/Shared/docs/becoming/material/civil.pdf
(3) https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/168_2009_01#rule3-1
(4) https://justice.gov.bc.ca/cso/index.do
(5) https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/120_2022a#division_d0e3656
(6) https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcca/doc/2022/2022bcca450/2022bcca450.html#par10

ACTION4CANADA FINANCIAL DOCS:
(A) A4C Docs Profits And Losses 2021-2022
(B) A4C Docs Balance Sheet 2021-2022
(C) A4C-Docs-General-Ledger-2021-2022

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Take Action Canada: 2 Years Later, No Activity In Vaccine Mandate Case

This is an update from March 2023. More than 100 “first responders” from Ontario (police, medical, firefighters, etc….) filed a lawsuit against the Ontario Government and their respective organizations. It sought over $100 million in damages.

April 2021: For context, it’s important to know the history. Originally, there was an Application filed back in April 2021 on behalf of a number of Ontario police officers. This case was heavily promoted, and donations solicited, from a group called Police On Guard. It’s interesting that P.O.G. was never listed as a client, despite their public role.

That case sat idly for several months — as always — before the next version came out. Now, the case is still considered active, and no one bothered to tell the public that this Application wasn’t being pursued. It’s unclear if any of the donor money was ever returned.

Worth noting: there was an April 2021 Application from Children’s Health Defense (Canada). It also appears that it’s not being pursued, and nothing has been publicly announced about returning donations.

Fall 2021: The next iteration was by a group called Take Action Canada. This was more broadly to challenge the vaccine passports that were being implemented in the Fall of 2021. Apparently, prospective clients were being asked to contribute $1,500 each, despite this being (despite abandoning the April Application).

March 1, 2023: Although the clients’ livelihoods made this case urgent, nothing was actually filed until March 2023. That’s right, it took approximately a year and a half from the time the suit was being organized, until the time a Statement of Claim was filed in Ontario Superior Court. Clearly, there is no urgency whatsoever in getting this done.

And what was the product? A rehash of filings from British Columbia and the Federal Court that had already been thrown out as “bad beyond argument”. People who had been forced from their professions were paying retainer fees for copies of pleadings previously tossed, and more than once.

July 18, 2023: an Amended Statement of Claim was filed. It pleaded some specific details for 35 of the Plaintiffs. The likely reason for doing this was to address criticisms from earlier cases that the claims lacked facts and background information. Here’s the Requisition.

However, the Amended Claim also states that “particulars will be provided later”. This likely won’t sit well with the Court, as Defendants are entitled to know the case against them.

August 10, 2023: the City of Hamilton filed a Notice of Intent to Defend. Note, this not the same thing as filing a Defence. It’s just a short statement that they intend to do so.

According to a recent response from the Court Registry, no actual defences have been filed, nor are there any hearings scheduled. In other words, it’s just another dead end case.

Should things progress, there are a few major problems to contend with:

  • First: the Plaintiffs mostly (if not entirely) are/were unionized employees, which means there’s a requirement to go through the grievance process. This typically ends in arbitration. While there are limited ways to argue around this, this document falls far short of that.
  • Second: as with similar cases, this one is pleaded so poorly that it’s likely to get struck due to its incomprehensible and incoherent nature. While not fatal, it will be another significant delay.
  • Third: given that it took so long to even get a case filed, the Defendants are likely to argue that the issues are “moot” (as in no longer relevant).
  • Fourth: even if some of the Plaintiffs were to seek out a new lawyer and file a new case, the Statute of Limitations — typically 2 years — will prevent them from refiling.

This case was announced 2 years ago, and hasn’t gotten past the pleadings stage. This is comparable with Vaccine Choice Canada’s 2020 suit, which was dormant for 2 1/2 years before a Motion to Strike was brought. That will be heard January 30th February 1st, 2024.

Again, few of these cases are being tried on the merits. They are being struck or dismissed because they aren’t written in an intelligible way, or have fatal defects.

This site has covered only a relatively small number of these kinds of cases. One has to wonder how prevalent the issue really is.

Instead of criticizing this site, perhaps Take Action Canada should be trying to reimburse people who’ve paid the retainer fees. Just a thought.

(1) https://takeactioncanada.ca/
(2) https://twitter.com/Takeactioncan
(3) Ontario EMS Statement Of Claim
(4) Ontario EMS Amended Statement Of Claim
(5) Ontario EMS Requisition To Amend
(6) Ontario EMS Notice Of Intent To Defend
(7) https://canucklaw.ca/ontario-ems-workers-suit-recycled-from-recent/
(8) https://canucklaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/Notice-Of-Application-Police-On-Guard.pdf
(9) https://canucklaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/Take-Action-Canada-Retainer-Essential-First
(10) https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2022/2022bcsc1507/2022bcsc1507.html#par45
(11) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2023/2023fc252/2023fc252.html#par52

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Action4Canada Appeal Put On “Inactive” List, Likely To Be Dismissed As Abandoned

Remember that dumpster fire of a case that Action4Canada filed in August of 2021? Remember how it was struck — not on the merits — but because it was so poorly written? Bad beyond argument?

Heck, even the Law Society of British Columbia piled on.

While Justice Ross did allow for a rewrite, the decision was appealed instead.

This Appeal was particularly frivolous considering the content that was being challenged. Specifically, most of it centered around Paragraph 52, outlining many of the areas that there was no jurisdiction to bring to Civil Court.

[52] The defendants submit that the NOCC pleads to a number of claims that are improper in a civil action. In part, the defendants point to the following elements of the NOCC as inappropriate:

a) alleging criminal conduct;
b) seeking a declaration that the preponderance of the scientific community is of the view that masks are ineffective in preventing transmission;
c) seeking a declaration that the motive and execution of the COVID-19 prevention measures by the World Health Organization are not related to a bona fide “pandemic”;
d) seeking a declaration that administering medical treatment without informed consent constitutes experimental medical treatment which is contrary to the Nuremberg Code, the Helsinki Declaration and is a crime against humanity under the Criminal Code of Canada;
e) seeking a declaration that the unjustified, irrational, and arbitrary decisions of which businesses would remain open, and which would close, as being “essential”, or not, was designed and implemented to favour mega-corporations and to de facto put most small businesses out of business; and
f) seeking a declaration that the measures of masking, social distancing, PCR testing, and lockdowns are not scientifically based, and are based on a false and fraudulent use of the PCR test.

[53] I agree with the defendants that these are improper claims.

The B.C. Court of Appeals isn’t going to overturn this. Full stop.

As for the request to revisit the costs issue, it needs to be pointed out that costs are almost entirely discretionary. Given that Justice Ross (correctly) ruled the Notice of Civil Claim wasn’t drafted properly, no one will fault him for such a finding anyway.

Unsurprisingly, there were more requests for donations.

And what a time to be alive. We are in the age where Court Services Online (C.S.O.) can be accessed by anyone. Any member of the public can search a case online, and see what exactly is going on. Yes, B.C. does paywall this content, but it’s not expensive.

As it turns out, no Appeal has yet been scheduled to be heard. This is a serious problem, as British Columbia, like most jurisdictions, don’t want files sitting dormant for months or years. The Action4Canada appeal has been classified as “inactive”, due to a failure to schedule the hearing.

Back at the beginning of 2023, there was a consent order for Translink to delay sending its Factum (arguments). However, it has since been filed.

It also appears that Mark Witten has been replaced as counsel for the B.C. Defendants for some reason.

The B.C. Court of Appeal Rules, and the Act outline the issue A4C is going to have:

[Division 3, Rule 50]
Managing inactive appeal list
50 (1)The registrar must place an appeal on the inactive appeal list if a notice of hearing of appeal is not filed in accordance with these rules by the date that is:
.
(a) one year after the notice of appeal is filed for the appeal, or
(b) 60 days after the appeal is ready for hearing.

[Division 4, Rule 51]
Appeals that are dismissed as abandoned
51(1) For the purposes of section 23 [appeals or applications for leave to appeal dismissed as abandoned] of the Act, an appeal or application for leave to appeal is dismissed as abandoned if it remains on the inactive appeal list for 180 days.

(2) Unless a justice orders otherwise, an appeal that is dismissed as abandoned under subrule (1) may not be reinstated.

[Court of Appeal Act]
Appeals or applications for leave to appeal dismissed as abandoned
23(1) An appeal or application for leave to appeal is dismissed as abandoned if it remains inactive under the circumstances and to the extent set out in the rules.
.
(2) An appeal or application for leave to appeal that has been dismissed as abandoned under subsection (1) may be reinstated in accordance with the rules.

Under Rule 50, an Appeal must be placed on the “inactive” list if more than 1 calendar year has elapsed since the Notice of Appeal was filed. Under Rule 51, if it remains on that list for 6 months, it will be dismissed for being abandoned. That’s consistent with Rule 23 of the Court of Appeal Act

Interestingly, the Appellants — people launching the Appeal — can’t just fill out a form if the case gets dismissed. Instead, a Judge must approve it.

There have been allegations made that the Respondents have been deliberately delaying getting a hearing booked. This seems very unlikely, for the reasons outlined previously. The Appeal doesn’t address the elephant in the room — that the Claim wasn’t written properly — so there’s no real prospect of the decision getting overruled.

Huang v. Li, 2022 BCCA 450 outlined the test for reinstating Appeals at Paragraph 10:

(a) the length of the delay and, in particular, whether the delay has been inordinate;
(b) the reason for the delay and, in particular, whether the delay is excusable;
(c) whether the respondent has suffered prejudice as a result of the delay; and
(d) the extent of the merits of the appeal.

Ground (d) is particularly fatal. There are no merits to the Appeal. None whatsoever. Instead of rewriting an incoherent Notice of Claim, an Appeal was filed to challenge jurisdiction on a number of issues Civil Courts can’t determine. It’s clearly and obviously baseless.

Supposedly, Action4Canada has a new Notice of Civil Claim ready to go. If this is actually true, then it boggles the mind why they’re wasting time and money messing around with this Appeal.

Questions need to be asked about this.

Receipts attached below (as usual).

UPDATE TO ARTICLE: This Notice of Hearing was filed October 19, 2023. It seems that people are taking note about what gets published in this case.

ACTION4CANADA APPEAL DOCUMENTS:
(1) A4C Notice Of Appeal September 28 2022
(2) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – VIHA
(3) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – BC Defendants
(4) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – Attorney General of Canada
(5) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – Peter Kwok, Translink
(6) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Appearance – BC Ferries, Brittney Sylvester
(7) A4C Appeal – Appeal Book – Appellant
(8) A4C Appeal – Appeal Book – Respondent VIH And PHC
(9) A4C Appeal – Appeal Record – Stand Alone Respondents VIHA
(10) A4C Appeal – Appeal Record – Stand Alone
(11) A4C Appeal – Factum – Appellant
(12) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent Attorney General Of Canada
(13) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent BC Ferries and Brittney Sylvester
(14) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent HMK -Provincial Defendants
(15) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent Peter Kwok and Translink
(16) A4C Appeal – Factum – Respondent VIHA and Providence Health
(17) A4C Appeal – Consent Order – Factum, Time Limits
(18) A4C Appeal – Change In Representation – BC Defendants
(19) A4C Appeal – Notice Of Hearing February 2024

ACTION4CANADA BCSC DOCUMENTS:
(1) A4C BCSC – Notice Of Civil Claim
(2) A4C BCSC – Response to Civil Claim (Health Authority Defendants)
(3) A4C BCSC – Response to Civil Claim (Provincial Defendants)
(4) A4C BCSC – Affidavit No 1 of Rebecca Hill
(5) A4C BCSC – Notice of Application (AG and RCMP applies to strike)
(6) A4C BCSC – Notice of Application (Provincial Defendants applies to strike)
(7) A4C BCSC – Notice of Application (Translink applies to strike)
(8) A4C BCSC – Application Response (Health Authority Defendants consent to strike)
(9) A4C BCSC – Application Response (BC Ferries consents to strike)
(10) A4C BCSC – Application Response (AG and RCMP consent to Prov. strike application)
(11) A4C BCSC – Application Response (Translink consents to HA Defendants strike application)
(12) A4C BCSC – Application Response (Translink consents to Prov. strike application)
(13) A4C BCSC – Affidavit No 2 of Rebecca Hill
(14) A4C BCSC – Application Record (to strike)
(15) A4C BCSC – Application Response (all plaintiffs)
(16) A4C BCSC – Amended Application Response (all plaintiffs)
(17) A4C BCSC – Transcript Application To Strike
(18) A4C BCSC – Reasons For Striking NOCC In Its Entirety
(19) A4C BCSC – Order striking pleadings
(20) A4C BCSC – Order striking pleading in its entirety with costs payable forthwith
(21) A4C BCSC – Appointment to assess bill of costs for Kwok and Translink
(22) A4C BCSC – Notice of Discontinuance (Kimberly Woolman & Estate of Jaqueline Woolman)
(23) A4C BCSC – Notice of Discontinuance (Amy Muranetz)
(24) A4C BCSC – Notice of Discontinuance (Federico Fuoco & Fire Productions Ltd.)

OTHER:
(1) https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcsc/doc/2022/2022bcsc1507/2022bcsc1507.html
(2) https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/Website/media/Shared/docs/becoming/material/civil.pdf
(3) https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/168_2009_01#rule3-1
(4) https://justice.gov.bc.ca/cso/index.do
(5) https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/120_2022a#division_d0e3656
(6) https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcca/doc/2022/2022bcca450/2022bcca450.html#par10

ACTION4CANADA FINANCIAL DOCS:
(A) A4C Docs Profits And Losses 2021-2022
(B) A4C Docs Balance Sheet 2021-2022
(C) A4C-Docs-General-Ledger-2021-2022

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Federal Court Strikes Claim By Coast Guard Worker Over Pay Issues, Cites Lack Of Jurisdiction

A member of the Canadian Coast Guard, Jennifer Horsman has had her challenge thrown out of the Federal Court, and lack of jurisdiction is cited.

This isn’t a case about being forced to take the clot-shots, but it’s still interesting. In August 2022, her employer claimed that she had been overpaid nearly $9,000, the remainder of a larger amount that was supposedly owed. Horsman says she kept her own records of all dates and shifts and contested the demand. This caused financial hardship.

She also tried to seek union representation, but was denied.

Despite attempts to resolve this internally, Horsman was unsuccessful. She eventually ended up suing the Government in March 2023 to resolve this, and here’s where it takes a turn.

Ottawa brought a Rule 221 Motion to Strike (throw out) the lawsuit on the grounds that the Court had no jurisdiction to hear the case at all.

Looking at Sections 208 and 236 of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act, FPSLRA:

Individual Grievances
Presentation
Right of employee
.
208 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (7), an employee is entitled to present an individual grievance if he or she feels aggrieved
.
(a) by the interpretation or application, in respect of the employee, of
.
(i) a provision of a statute or regulation, or of a direction or other instrument made or issued by the employer, that deals with terms and conditions of employment, or
.
(ii) a provision of a collective agreement or an arbitral award; or
.
(b) as a result of any occurrence or matter affecting his or her terms and conditions of employment.

Section 208 then goes on to list a series of conditions and limitations.

Disputes relating to employment
.
236 (1) The right of an employee to seek redress by way of grievance for any dispute relating to his or her terms or conditions of employment is in lieu of any right of action that the employee may have in relation to any act or omission giving rise to the dispute.

Application
(2) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the employee avails himself or herself of the right to present a grievance in any particular case and whether or not the grievance could be referred to adjudication.

Taken together, it seems laid out that Federal workers have the rights to file grievances, but they have no real right to take their problems to Court.

This ruling confirms the Adelberg decision, a high profile ruling in February 2023 that permanently ended the cases of over 400 Federal workers. Another 200 workers of Federally regulated industries had a setback as well, since the pleading was so poorly drafted.

Adelberg was also cited by a former RCMP worker, whose case was struck because of the FPSLRA.

Lesson in here: members of the Federal Government, as well as most unionized employers, have no guaranteed right to go to Court. There’s almost always a grievance or arbitration requirement.

If there’s any consolation here, it’s that the person wasn’t ordered to pay any costs. Yes, the Attorney General asked, but the Judge declined. She also didn’t waste many thousands of dollars hiring a lawyer to get the exact same result. Still, she has guts for at least attempting this.

(1) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2023/2023fc929/2023fc929.html
(2) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2023/2023fc929/2023fc929.pdf
(3) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/regu/sor-98-106/latest/sor-98-106.html
(4) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/sc-2003-c-22-s-2/latest/sc-2003-c-22-s-2.html
(5) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2023/2023fc252/2023fc252.html
(6) https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2023/2023fc280/2023fc280.html

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Canadian Frontline Nurses Hit With $315,000 In Costs Over Failed Defamation Suit

In a recent decision that wasn’t very surprising, the activist group, Canadian Frontline Nurses (CFLN), has been hit with $315,000 in Court costs. This follows a December ruling that dismissed their million dollar defamation case as a SLAPP, over 2 publications. That is, of course, short for a “strategic lawsuit against public participation”.

Costs are as follows:

  • $250,000 to Canadian Nurses Association Defendants
  • $65,000 to Together News Inc. Defendants.

See previous article for more information and context.

SLAPPs are a form of weaponizing the legal system to shut down discourse over public interest issues. By filing such cases, Defendants are “chilled” into being removed from the discussion.

What’s particularly bad about this case is that the CFNL is a group that claims to have fought on behalf of the freedom of Canadians over the last few years. It seems that at least some have no issue with taking away the freedoms — specifically speech — of people they don’t like.

This differs little from Kulvinder Gill and Ashvinder Lamba, who are on the hook for $1.1 million over a failed defamation suit from December 2020. Actually, it’s mostly Gill.

To be clear, this isn’t about defending the principles or character of organizations like the Canadian Nurses Association, as they were all too willing to shill for lockdown measures. Instead, it’s about the right of everyone to say their piece, even if it’s downright awful. Silencing people because they’re not “on your side” is just downright wrong.

Seeing the replies to Paul Champ, one of the lawyers, was discouraging. So many in the “freedom movement” are showing disdain that the attempt at libel-chill had backfired. While they whine about their civil liberties being trampled on by Government, they cheer private citizens doing it.

Costs on dismissal
(7) If a judge dismisses a proceeding under this section, the moving party is entitled to costs on the motion and in the proceeding on a full indemnity basis, unless the judge determines that such an award is not appropriate in the circumstances.

Costs if motion to dismiss denied
(8) If a judge does not dismiss a proceeding under this section, the responding party is not entitled to costs on the motion, unless the judge determines that such an award is appropriate in the circumstances.

Damages
(9) If, in dismissing a proceeding under this section, the judge finds that the responding party brought the proceeding in bad faith or for an improper purpose, the judge may award the moving party such damages as the judge considers appropriate.

Now, the group tried to avoid something called “full indemnity”, which is when the winning side of a lawsuit gets 100% of their costs back. In Ontario, the default is to grant this in cases where lawsuits are dismissed under anti-SLAPP laws. This is Section 137.1(7) of the Courts of Justice Act.

Interestingly, if an anti-SLAPP Motion fails, the Plaintiffs are not automatically entitled to costs.

Dismissing such a case doesn’t mean that the Judge endorses or accepts the views of the Defendants. Instead, it’s a finding that the lawsuit should never have been brought at all. In a (supposedly) free society, shutting down public discourse is rarely a good idea.

In any event, the CFLN attempted to cash in by suing, and it backfired. The result was predictably very expensive.

COURT DOCUMENTS:
(1) CFLN Statement Of Claim
(2) CFLN Statement Of Defense CDN Nurses Association
(3) CFLN Statement Of Defense Together News/Comox Valley
(4) CFLN Responding Motion Record Of Plaintiffs
(5) CFLN Cross Examinations Volume 1
(6) CFLN Cross Examinations Volume 2
(7) CFLN Cross Examinations Volume 3
(8) CFLN Supplementary Motion Record Of Plaintiffs
(9) CFLN Freedom Rally Documentation
(10) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc7280/2022onsc7280.html
(11) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2022/2022onsc7280/2022onsc7280.pdf
(12) https://canucklaw.ca/canadian-frontline-nurses-1-million-defamation-case-dismissed-as-a-slapp/
(13) https://twitter.com/paulchamplaw/status/1671560050249170950

APPEAL DOCUMENTS:
(1) CFLN Appeal Appellant Factum
(2) CFLN Appeal Respondent Factum
(3) CFLN Appeal Order Security For Costs
(4) CFLN Appeal Notice Of Abandonment

OTHER LINKS:
(1) https://www.canadianfrontlinenurses.ca
(2) https://www.canadianfrontlinenurses.ca/donate
(3) https://t.me/NursesAgainstLockdowns/2229
(4) https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/anti-vaxx-nurse-libel-suit-ontario-1.6698686
(5) https://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/blogs/cn-content/2021/09/09/enough-is-enough-professional-nurses-stand-for-sci
(6) https://comoxvalley.news/quack-quack-these-pro-virus-nurses-have-dangerous-ideas/