Edmonton MP sues U of A student paper for defamation
Edmonton-Griesbach Conservative MP Kerry Diotte is suing the University of Alberta student newspaper over a pair of articles that he claims have defamed him.
On Nov. 19, Diotte filed a statement of claim against The Gateway Student Journalism Society, which publishes the U of A’s student newspaper.
Diotte takes issue with a pair of articles published on the newspaper’s website earlier this month.
“The plaintiff, Kerry Diotte, asserts that he is not a racist and that (the articles) stand to defame his character,” the statement of claim says.
Statements of claim contain allegations not proven in court.
The first article, under the headline “SU president criticized for photo with controversial MP,” was published Nov. 2 on The Gateway ’s website.
The article was written after U of A Students’ Union president Reed Larsen tweeted a photo of himself with Diotte at a Universities Canada event in October.
According to the statement of claim, the article included a passage that said, “Several U of A students voiced concern over Larsen’s meeting with Diotte, who has a history of making racist remarks.”
The article pointed to social media posts Diotte has made about ex-Rebel Media contributor Faith Goldy, who was fired after appearing on a podcast of the Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website.
It goes on to say Diotte has been accused of “making racist and insensitive marks (sic) in the past,” specifically a 2016 tweet from Diotte about a custom-made Bingo card with which he “played along ” during question period in the House of Commons. The card included the terms “Syrians” and “First Nations.”
On Nov. 5, Diotte served The Gateway notice under the Defamation Act, after which the paper deleted “some of the defamatory comments,” the statement of claim says.
The second article was published Nov. 8, according to the claim, under the headline “Editorial: SU President can’t and shouldn’t downplay Diotte’s politics.” The editorial questioned the student union president’s judgment for appearing in “such a smiley, cuddly photo of a man who makes pals with white nationalists.”
Diotte claims the entire article is defamatory.
“The plaintiff ... has been injured in his personal credit, character, and reputation as a citizen, in the practice of his profession and has been brought into public scandal, odium, and contempt,” the claim reads.
The claim says Diotte is seeking a number of remedies, including $150,000 in non-pecuniary damages, as well as an unspecified amount in pecuniary damages and costs.
In a post on its website, The Gateway said it had received the statement of claim from Diotte’s lawyer.
“Following the receipt of a Defamation Act notice from Mr. Diotte, an editor’s note was added to both articles on Nov. 15, retracting the statements and apologizing,” the statement reads.
“The Gateway is in the process of reviewing the statement of claim, and will be filing a statement of defence in due course. Pending the filing of that statement of defence, The Gateway is not able to provide any additional comment on this matter.”
Diotte is a former Edmonton city councillor and former Edmonton Sun columnist.