COUNCIL ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Salmon Arm, B.C.
epress@shuswap.net

May 21,1998

PRESS RELEASE:

PRESSLERS WIN DEFAMATION SUIT AGAINST DAVID LETHBRIDGE AND CHBC-TV

Claus and Eileen Pressler of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, have won a major defamation case against self-described anti-racist activist David Lethbridge and CHBC-TV of Kelowna, B.C.

Eileen Pressler is the head of the Council on Public Affairs, an organization which has fought for the right to free speech in Canada.

Mr. Justice Owen-Flood of the B.C. Supreme Court awarded Claus Pressler $60,000.00 in damages. Eileen Pressler was awarded damages of $11,500.00.

The case involved a TV news broadcast aired in October of 1993 by CHBC-TV in which reporter Blaine Gaffney and Lethbridge repeated rumours that the Presslers were building a paramilitary compound on their retirement property, complete with extensive security measures, guarded perimeter fences, underground bunkers, separate telecommunication and electrical systems and a barn with numerous rooms and a spiral staircase.

At trial it was shown that the Presslers were building a retirement home and that the rumours were completely false. Several of their neighbours testified on behalf of the Presslers at trial.

CHBC-TV and Lethbridge made no attempt at the trial to prove that the allegations made in the broadcast were true. Both attempted to justify the broadcast on the grounds that the Council on Public Affairs had defended the right to free speech of people such German-Canadian Ernst Zündel and Alberta teacher Jim Keegstra.

Eileen Pressler said that she was elated with the news. "Not only is it a great victory for us, but it's also a great victory for freedom of speech and freedom-loving Canadians everywhere," she said. "So-called anti-racist groups in Canada have for years freely vilified anyone in this country who stands up for freedom of speech. This decision sends a message that those who fight to maintain the freedoms Canadians fought for in World War II can do so without having their reputations and lives destroyed by lies and falsehoods."

Lethbridge is a well-known anti-racist who has been active in shutting down the meetings of any groups or individuals whose views he disagrees with. He ran as the candidate for the Communist Party in the last federal election.

The Presslers were ably represented by well-known lawyers Douglas Christie of Victoria and Barbara Kulaszka of Ontario.

Congrats to the Presslers in their victory for free speech.

Special Note to SH-A: Even the forces of political correctness can't lie and defame with impunity. Always back up your accusations with FACTS

• ACC Niagara
• Niagara Freedom Web

http://www.niagara.com/~freedom/accniag/lawsuit.htm