The following letter was received following our story about John Brassard suing Keenan Aylwin over a Facebook post. Letters to the editor can be sent to [email protected]. Please include your phone number for verification, not publication.
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John Brassard could easily correct the record. As a member of Parliament, he has major reach via social and traditional media. He could issue a press release and end it.
Instead, his response to a social-media comment that he didn’t like is a defamation lawsuit to the tune of $100,000.
At issue is a Facebook post made by Keenan Aylwin, a Barrie city councillor, on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and in the wake of the New Zealand mosque massacres.
In his post, Mr. Aylwin asks the reader to make connections between the rise in white supremacist rhetoric and the rise in white supremacist violence.
Mr. Aylwin then criticizes Mr. Brassard for remaining silent about Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer’s appearance at the United We Roll rally, at which Faith Goldy, a neo-Nazi sympathizer, also spoke.
The link between the United We Roll rally and the white nationalist, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim elements of the Yellow Vest Canada movement is well documented.
Mr. Aylwin also calls on Mr. Brassard to “clearly denounce Faith Goldy, anti-immigrant groups and all white supremacist and hateful rhetoric” and to apologize for causing harm by not doing so.
Whether you agree with Mr. Aylwin is beside the point; his post provides important commentary on a matter of public interest.
As Mr. Brassard’s constituent, and a woman of colour, I was grateful to see Mr. Aylwin’s contribution to the public discourse. To have an MP who didn’t denounce a neo-Nazi sympathizer or the white nationalist elements at that rally when it occurred made me feel like a second-class citizen in my own community, like my dignity and safety didn’t matter.
Whether you agree with my experience is beside the point, too.
And here’s the point: if Mr. Brassard believes Mr. Aylwin’s post contains falsehoods about him, he could clear the air immediately and show us the receipts. Did Mr. Brassard denounce the white supremacy of Faith Goldy or the white nationalist Yellow Vesters associated with United We Roll? Does he now?
Instead of addressing real concerns about festering white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and anti-immigrant rhetoric in our community, he decided to sue Mr. Aylwin for defamation.
When politicians pursue defamation lawsuits — especially with respect to critics’ commentary — they should carefully consider what is known as the “chilling effect.”
A chilling effect occurs when people self-censor for fear of consequences for their legitimate speech.
In the case of Mr. Brassard’s ill-advised defamation lawsuit, we are sent the message to think twice before engaging in robust political discussions on significant — indeed, life or death — issues of our day.
As with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (also known as a SLAAP suit), this lawsuit signals that we ought to avoid criticizing our political representatives in order to protect ourselves from embroilment in costly litigation.
Is this the kind of democratic culture John Brassard wants for Barrie-Innisfil?
Mr. Brassard’s rush to sue, rather than engage in public dialogue, suggests the goal here is to evade criticism, not clarify his stance on white supremacy and neo-Nazis.
A defamation lawsuit should be used rarely by a politician. If used, it should be as a shield, and never as a sword to silence critics.
Make no mistake, Mr. Brassard’s lawsuit is an attack on the free expression of all of his constituents and critics. We should be outraged.
John Brassard could easily correct the record, if the record needs correcting. Instead, he’d rather sue. Our democracy is worse for it.
Sheetal Rawal
Cookstown
Lawyer and founder of Delante Public Interest Advocacy
Former program director with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
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