The popular local garbage disposal company and former students’ union general manager to fight it out in the court
On October 9, Just Bins Waste Disposal, announced on their social media pages that former URSU president and general manager have launched a lawsuit against them. Just Bins has been covering the ongoing University of Regina Students’ Union (URSU) situation for the past year.
The company wrote on their social media pages that “Apparently URSU didn’t like our coverage and has decided to sue us. Guess this is where your UofR student dues are going.”
Just Bins has a following of over 100,000 on Instagram, 30,000 on X, and 139,000 on Facebook. The company has frequently posted content, often critical of URSU, including photos and videos that identify URSU members.
Ongoing lawsuits stacking up for URSU
The lawsuit is the second filed by the students’ union due to posts made on social media. URSU is also suing the owner of the Instagram account “ursu_updates”. The operator of this account is Haris Khan who served as URSU’s vice president, external affairs and president in the terms 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively. The lawsuit alleges that Khan posted defamatory remarks on this account and on Facebook under the pseudonym “Mark Miller.”
General Manager Aoun Mohmmad’s statement of claim alleges both Khan and Just Bins engaged in “defamation and related torts.”
The statement of claim further read, “the plaintiffs bring this action against the defendants, for their online publications are false, irresponsible, unfair, and a malicious attack on the plaintiff’s reputation.”
URSU claims Just Bins defamed them
In the lawsuit, URSU claims Just Bins made several posts that they claim to be defamatory and false. The court document listed four posts that Muhammad claims are false and malicious.
In the first post on April 2, Just Bins posted a domino effect meme which, URSU argues, was “suggesting the defendant intended to topple the plaintiff.”
They also accused Just Bins of posting a statement that claimed election interference in the 2024 URSU elections, but no date was provided for this post.
URSU took issue with another post made on August 25 which read, “URSU (while completely defunded and carrying a $1M+ deficit) is reportedly paying themselves a 6 to 12 month severance compensation.”
Just Bins reiterated this claim two days later when they posted, “According to several sources, the University of Regina Students Union, while completely defunded and carrying a 1.36M + deficit, is reportedly about to pay up to one year’s salary in severance compensation to their full-time employees.”
Former president accused of defaming URSU
URSU claims that Haris Khan made several defamatory posts under multiple accounts and names. According to the plaintiffs, the following posts were allegedly false and defamatory and were made between March and April 2025:
- Khan posted on Instagram that “if URSU’s general manager is terminated, he will receive a larger severance package of nearly $190,000.”
- “URSU is violating its own nepotism policy,” he wrote in another Instagram post.
- “URSU has operated in secrecy, dismissed legitimate concerns, and failed to meet even basic expectations of transparency and service,” another post said.
- Khan also posted an animated image of plaintiff Aoun Muhammad depicted as a figurine, with words such as “AGM disruption” and “poor financial management.”
- A few days later, he posted another image of Muhammad using a clown filter. Captions and comments called for Muhammad’s resignation, alleged election interference and favoritism toward candidates, and claimed he had “zero interest in acting in the benefit of U of R students.”
- The plaintiffs also allege Khan, using pseudonyms, commented on the Just Bins Instagram account, claiming Muhammad had mismanaged funds and left the country. They say Khan also suggested Muhammad should be stripped of his PhD to preserve the university’s reputation.
URSU reached out to defendants
Muhammad sent two warning letters to the defendant, asking them to remove the publications and cease publishing more material. A representative of Just Bins replied to the letters saying the posts had been removed. But the court document states that “many of the posts remain and/or new ones have been posted since.”
The plaintiffs allege that neither defendant published a retraction or an apology for the posts. The document claims that the defamatory statements attack URSU’s morals, good standing, honesty, integrity, and cast suspicion on its character.
The plaintiffs also claim that the defendants published such statements, knowing they were false and intended to damage Muhmmad’s reputation. URSU alleges that civil harassment and special damages have occurred. They are seeking a declaration from the defendants that the statements were false and a ban on further publications. Additionally, they have requested for the defendant’s electrical data to be traced to prove special damages at the trial and a general sum of $250,000.
