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served notice of his suit a scant two weeks frustrating situation to be in. before the one-year limit was up. "People should realise, not only does The implications can be staggering. this go on for a long time," says Smyth, With similar laws, nobody writing in the "but it also becomes more expensive as it public forum of letters to the editor or goes on-besides the psychological drain. commentaries coin be sure a contentious "Nobody who gets involved in a libel letter won't cost them thousands in suit comes off cheaply. It just is a very lawyers' fees. To an individual, the costs of expensive procedure." successfully defending a libel suit can be Anybody wondering how all these Jibe,\ more financially deadly than losing a cases can get to court and why people are $100,000 settlement is to a newspaper. A worried if they are right, can take cold guilty verdict would almost ensure comfort in the following fact. The truth, or bankruptcy. "fair comment", isn't always an effective This leaves the floodgates open for the defence in Canada, as Max Allen found out use of libel as ~. •nge. When a plaintiff in 1977 when an expose he produced on the financially outweighs the defendant and Canada Metal Company cost the CBC can afford to dump money into a trial they thousands despite the accuracy of its know is likely to fail , the resulting claims. Under Canadian laws, it seems it's harassment can be very cost-effective. But not enough to be accurate; the truth of an this isn't exactly news to professional article's statements has to be either well no LOnGER journalists. known to the public or explicitly proven FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS, DONNA SMYTH WAS SILENCED, "Libel proceedings are a form of within the article to prevent a suit sticking. but now she has a story to tell. intimidation," said Max Allen, CBS Ideas Many times, what's "proven" or not is an producer, in a magazine article. When area grey enough to land a writer in court. working on As It Happens, Allen fell Her story is about many things. It is about a citizen speaking out for a victim to a controversial lawsuit. "They're The Setting not out to collect a lot of money, and smart cause and facing bankrupcy as a result. It is about two professors, The road both to and from this trial nearly as opposite as it is possible to be in their lives and beliefs. It is journalists view them as such." This reality has raised many social stops at the small village of Ellershouse, about the Canadian nuclear industry and Canadian libel laws. And it activists' fears about the dangers of daring Hams County, Nova Scotia. Near the even has a happy ending ... so far. to speak out against individuals or University town of Wolfville where Smyth companies with vast legal resources to bear teaches English, Ellershouse is on the edge against them. "There's been a general of the Annapolis Valley and some of the worry about what yqu can say,'' says Susan richest farmland in Canada. Around the village, the land becomes too hilly for large­ Holtz, an employee at Halifax's Ecology Action Centre. "We've been trying to win a scale farming, but the moist, fertile nature place at the tab e of expertise, and when of the land sb.a.w.s through the lushly green smudges of terrain seen from the train ride n January 18, four men and you see the gains you've made be being The Legalities m. three women walked into a right, eroded by fear of speaking out, it's Halifax courtroom after five What sets this case apart from any other really disappointing." The view passing from Halifax to hours of deliberation and read squabble between two Canadians The fear also has tremendous potential Ellershouse has a lot to say, more than most train trips. As the two-car VIA their verdict. With broad grins conducted through the legal system? Just to affect news coverage-and news express clacks through the surrounding on some of their faces, they this; instead of charging both Smyth and blackouts. "Obviously media people can't marched through the varieties of libel in the newspaper, which distributed over afford to cover issues they'll have to worry area, hill and dale are plainly visible, but Canada, through every possible way dam­ 100,000 copies of what he called a about law suits with," says Holtz. She saw so are the objects which connect them like ages could have been awarded, and one by "diatribe" and a "smear", Yaffe singled the beginnings of this when she became a nervous system-the lakes, marshes and one found Acadia University professor out Smyth in his suit, cuuing her off from involved with the Nuclear Critics' Defence rivers running through the land. As the Donna Smyth not guilty. As her friends sharing a defence and legal costs with the Fund, a group raising money for Smyth onrushing window exposes lakes rimmed with marshes and streams winding down and supporters released their pent-upemo­ much greater resources of the newspaper. and monitoring other potential cases. the middle of valleys they carved out over tions into the thickly wooden chamber, the It was possibly the first time in Canada a "When we had a press conference on the the centuries, it's clear how interconnected little publicized case of Yaffe vs Smyth writer had been sued without also naming formation of the fund, it was reported to the area really is. It's something the people came to a close. the publication which printed the me that the CBC had their short piece on it Sitting in her small home in allegedly libellous article, paragraph, or checked over by media lawyers," she says. who live there can't forget. So when they caught wind that several companies were Ellershouse, Nova Scotia, Donna Smyth word. One specific example of a blackout exploring the area with an eye toward acts most unlike a llictor in a nasty legal The reasons a libel suit usually includes occurred when Southam news columnist battle. The jubilation in her voice is both author and publisher haven't Allan Fotheringham was sued by the then­ setting up a uranium mining operation, the locals, including Donna Smyth, were measured, the release tempered by hard changed much over the years. While the powerful liberal advisor Jim Coutts. lessons learned during her judicial ordeal. writer creates the supposedly libellous Under his lawyers' advice, the name of concerned ... to put it lightly. While the very mention of the words "For once," she says with a wan smile, "I wording, the nature of libel is that it is Coutts did not appear in a Fotheringham guess we can say thank heaven for small damaging words distributed to and read by column until Coutts ran in a Toronto by­ URANIUM and RADIATION is enough to make most people nervous, there are victories." If the victory is small, it is others. Without the publishing and election. because the case is far from closed for her. distribution, no real harm can be said to He printed nothing for the same reason reasons aplenty for such fears. Despite her legal innocence and the have occurred. Also, in most cases, Donna Smyth was unable to publicly One person who knows this well is jury's instruction of McGill Chemistry publicatons have a greater ability to comment on her suit for two full years Gordon Edwards, President of the professor Leo Yaffe to pay her court costs, actually pay damages than an individual. before it came to court-under Canadian Canadian Coalition for Nuclear she still awaits a legal bill of As a result, grouping the two together libel law, comments made after a legal writ Responsibility and professor of approximately $20,000 above what court always made sense. is issued can be used against the defendant Mathematics and Science at Montreal's costs will cover. She spent two years with The dangers arise when Canadian laws to increase a settlement or as proof of guilt. Vanier College. Edwards has spent a good the loss of all she owns hanging on the protect the media companies better than This informal, inescapable gag rule deal of his life researching the nuclear cycle jury's verdict. And all for writing a the individuals who write in them. The frustrated Smyth when interviewed before and serving as a paid consultant on commentary in the Feb. 15, 1982 Halifax Nova Scotia Defamation Act is such an the trial. government commissions. And when he Chronicle-Herald criticizing a pro-nuclear elf8mple, placing a three-month statute of "I really am deeply angry," she said, examines uranium mining, he sees a energy speech given by Yaffe in Wolfville, limitations on serving notice to tapping her foot as if impatient. "I can't nightmare of environmental dangers N.S. weeks earlier. publishers, while allowing a year for the directly express my feelings about what is almost everywhere he looks. "The main impact is the large amount The offending sentence: "He is only one litigation-minded to sue authors not happening to me because it could lead to of many 'experts' the nuclear industry will employed by the publisher. Yaffe's lawyers aggravation of damages. It's a very of nuclear waste," says Edwards. As mines parade in front of us in their desperate cntd. on page 6 attempt to sell 'nuclear' to Nova Scotia." WHAT YOUR BEST FRIEND CAN'T TELL YOU..

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