Judge rules U of R professor Michelle Stewart must pay author Candis McLean $6,450
University of Regina professor Michelle Stewart has lost a defamation lawsuit after calling an author’s work “racist garbage.”
A lawsuit launched by author Candis McLean in 2017 alleged that Stewart’s comments on her book about the Neil Stonechild case defamed her character and resulted in her losing potential income.
Stewart, who according to the U of R website is an associate professor of gender, religion and critical studies, denied the allegations.
In a June 13 decision, Regina King’s Bench Justice Neil Robertson ruled in favour of McLean.
Self-published book released a decade ago
In 2015, McLean published a book called When Police Become Prey: The Cold, Hard Facts of Neil Stonechild’s Freezing Death.
While much of the coverage of the Stonechild case over the years has focused on police culpability, McLean’s book offered a differing view.
Stonechild was an Indigenous teenager from Saskatoon who, in November of 1990, died of hypothermia after coming in contact with police and being dropped off in a field.
The past practice of Saskatoon police taking intoxicated or disorderly people – often Indigenous – to the outskirts of the city came to be known as “starlight tours”.
A judicial inquiry was highly critical of the police service, saying among other things that the service’s own investigation into the Stonechild death was inadequate.
According to Robertson’s court decision, the premise of McLean’s book is that the police officers involved in the Stonechild case were innocent of wrongdoing.
The decision says Stewart called the book “racist garbage” in online posts and contacted venues to cancel the press tour events for McLean’s book.
Robertson stated that Stewart herself had not yet read McLean’s book and he found no evidence McLean conveyed a racist tone.
“If a reasonable person believed that the book was racist, they might then believe that the author was as well,” Robertson’s decision said.
Robertson concluded that the words did harm McLean’s reputation and that the requirements for defamation were met.
“It is not fair comment to imply that the author of an opinion piece is racist simply because you have a different view of the subject, even if your view is correct,” the justice stated, according to the documents.
McLean’s lawsuit sought $165,642 in damages, but she was awarded a much smaller sum of $6,450. That includes $3,000 for breach of contract (relating to Stewart’s efforts to cancel events on McLean’s book tour), $2,450.62 for other damages that resulted from the breach of contract and $1,000 for general damages due to defamation.
It is not fair comment to imply that the author of an opinion piece is racist simply because you have a different view of the subject, even if your view is correct.” –Justice Neil Robertson
McLean says she tells the truth, is not a racist
In an interview with the Carillon, McLean said she was hurt by the way her book was received.
She believes she told the truth about the events surrounding Stonechild’s death and resents being deemed a “racist”.
In one instance, McLean recalled “I have had a woman jump up when I was speaking at a book signing and she banged a drum like one inch from my face and scared the heck out of me. Like it was so, so shocking.”
She recognises that there were definitely cases where such atrocities involving police occurred, but stated that “the justice system needs investigation, and these two officers need their cases reviewed because they are innocent.”
“It really hurt because my grandpa did everything he could to help indigenous people against the white man’s plague, which was tuberculosis. And they named a school after him in Regina, the Dr. George Ferguson School,” said McLean
McLean added her grandfather taught her to value Indigenous ways of life and to honour their culture.
She also experienced many instances of death threats, name calling and other forms of bullying
Stewart’s maintains her remarks were ‘fair comment’
According to Robertson’s decision, Stewart’s lawyer Roxanne Ouellette presented arguments to the court that the comment “racist garbage” was directed at the book itself and not at McLean.
Ouellette argued that Stewart’s comments fall under “fair comment on a controversial subject of public interest,” according to the documents from the case.
The defence claimed there was no evidence for damage to the author’s reputation and that the protests that took place actually generated publicity for their book.
As for the argument that she hadn’t even read the book, Stewart maintained that she had reviewed parts of the book and understood the premise.
The defence also stated McLean’s book “rejects findings of the Neil Stonechild Inquiry, made after hearing evidence and argument from affected parties, including the former police officers who were represented by counsel at the Inquiry.”
the Carillon reached out to Stewart for comment, but received no response by the publication date.
Author reflects on outcome of lawsuit
Despite not receiving the full amount she sought, McLean says she still considers the case a victory.
“I think the biggest thing is that activists in Saskatchewan need to learn where their freedom of speech impinges on others and stop bullying people,” said McLean.
