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You are hereInformation bulletin - Banro’s legal suit in Ontario : Court rejects request to have it transferred to Quebec

Information bulletin - Banro’s legal suit in Ontario : Court rejects request to have it transferred to Quebec

    Écosociété appeals an ontarian decision

      Montreal, March 25nd 2009

      On June 11th, 2008, the gold mining company Banro Corporation filed a 5 million dollar suit against Écosociété and the authors of Noir Canada. This legal action came on the heels of another one filed by Barrick Gold mining society in the amount of 6 million dollars. Due to their limited financial means, Éditions Écosociété have filed a request before the Ontario court in order to have the pursuit transferred to Quebec. A legal action held in Ontario would mean duplication of the heavy judicial procedures (days of interrogation, defense file preparation, etc.) the authors and the publishing company have to go through already, because of the suit filed by Barrick in Quebec. The authors and the publishing company would also have to make regular trips to Toronto, as they are all based in Montreal.

      On February 23rd, the request to have the action suit transferred to Quebec was firmly rejected by the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario. Shocked by the bias of the ruling largely favorable to Banro’s «right of reputation», Les Éditions Écosociété and the authors of Noir Canada have decided to appeal.

      Read more: http://slapp.ecosociete.org/en/node/15180

      Meanwhile, the effects of the Ontarian lawsuit for defamation continue to be felt in the neighbouring province. This week, Éditions Écosociété have had to cease all distribution of the book Noir Canada in Ontario, while the authors were forced to cancel three conferences scheduled this week in Toronto and Peterborough.

        Help us!

          Had they decided to accept the judgment and to confront the trial process, Éditions Écosociété would have had to pay $ 13 000 in judicial costs (excluding lawyers’ fees) for a day and a half of hearings. This amount suddenly increased to $ 25 000 following a request by Banro Corporation’s lawyers.

          Should they lose the appeal in front of the Ontario Court, the authors and editors of Noir Canada risk seeing these costs double. This is in addition to having to finance a trial in Ontario, which represents at least several tens of thousands of dollars. In the meantime, they continue to bear the costs of the suit brought by Barrick Gold in Montreal for $ 6 million.

          Keeping up this fight and ensuring the publishing house’s very survival have until now been possible thanks to the very generous help of Me Normand Tamaro in Québec and Me Linda McCaffrey of Ecojustice in Ontario, as well as the support of the community at large.

          Éditions Écosociété continue to solicit your financial aid so that it can continue to defend both itself and freedom of speech in the context of public debate.

          You can make a donation to Éditions Écosociété’s legal defence fund via their website http://slapp.ecosociete.org/en/node/31 or by sending a check to the following address:

          Les Éditions Écosociété
          C.P. 32052, Comptoir Saint-André
          Montréal (Québec) H2L 4Y5

            Following the March 5th demonstration, Minister Weil committed herself to submitting a bill to the National Assembly

              This past March 5th, over a hundred people backed by over sixty organisations demonstrated in front of the Montreal Courthouse to demand that Minister of Justice Kathleen Weil adopt an anti-SLAPP bill before June 2009. The demonstration was not in vain.

              Alexandre Shields reported in the next day’s edition of Le Devoir that “A source within the Ministry of Justice confirmed to Le Devoir that the bill to counter SLAPP lawsuits that died on last fall’s agenda, should be back on the National Assembly’s legislative menu in the coming weeks [translation]”. Source: http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/03/06/237565.html .

              To read articles published in La Presse Canadienne, The Gazette, Le Devoir or the Voir following the mobilisation in front of the Courthouse, or to listen to radio reports by Radio Canada, consult our press review section at the following address: http://slapp.ecosociete.org/en/revue_de_presse .

              You can also read a speech (in french) delivered by Alain Deneault in front of the Montreal Courthouse during the demonstration at : http://slapp.ecosociete.org/fr/node/15142 .

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