Judge finds activist was defamed by People's Party of Canada official, awards him $10K in damages

A judge has awarded a Winnipeg activist $10,000 in damages after finding he was defamed on social media by a People's Party of Canada employee during the 2019 federal election campaign.

Omar Kinnarath sued the PPC and several people in October 2020, seeking more than a $1 million in damages in total.

The lawsuit was filed after Kinnarath admittedly became "the catalyst" in the cancellation of a PPC meet-and-greet event planned at a Winnipeg art gallery in 2019, according to the decision rendered by Judge Sheldon W. Lanchbery of the Court of King's Bench.

Monique Choiselat, the former CEO of the PPC's Winnipeg Centre riding association, then called Kinnarath a "terrorist" in two Facebook posts on her personal account and in a tweet on the PPC's Winnipeg Centre account, the decision says.

The posts included an image of Kinnarath, a definition of the word terrorist, and Kinnarath's personal contact information — including his home address, which Lanchbery said was incorrect.

The posts also implied that Kinnarath caused a fire that destroyed a building near the art gallery where the cancelled event was to take place, the judge said.

Choiselat made the same post to Facebook twice after the social media site deleted the first one, Lanchbery wrote. 

"The uncontroverted evidence is Ms. Choiselat immediately reposted the same defamatory information on Facebook. At this stage, the only reasonable conclusion is [that] she published maliciously," the judge wrote.

The damages awarded to Kinnarath comprised $5,000 in both general and aggravated damages, according to Lanchbery.

The judge said Choiselat's use of the word "terrorist" and her accusations of arson against Kinnarath would "tend to lower his reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person."

While Choiselat claimed her posts were important to the public and factually correct, Lanchbery said accusing Kinnarath of terrorism without any evidence "defeats any claim of fair comment."

The fact that Choiselat never apologized to Kinnarath was also an aggravating factor, Lanchbery wrote.

"Five years after her initial post, she maintains calling Mr. Kinnarath a terrorist," Lanchbery wrote. "Although I found the general damages to be minimal, Ms. Choiselat's actions require me to award Mr. Kinnarath aggravated damages for her conduct."

Lanchbery also said the evidence presented by Kinnarath shows that he suffered minimal damage from Choiselat's posts, which is why he awarded the activist "nominal" damages and did not issue any punitive damages.

In addition to Choiselat, Kinnarath's lawsuit also named the PPC party and six other people, including PPC party candidates Yogi Henderson and Steven Fletcher.

The claim against Fletcher was discontinued, and Lanchbery dismissed the one against Henderson. Kinnarath's claims against two unidentified defendants and an unidentified business were also dropped.

Lanchbery also found that the PPC was not liable for Choiselat's post on the party's Twitter account, as the post violated the party's social media policy.

A default judgment was also ordered after two people — Todd McDougall and Derek Storie — did not show up to court proceedings, Lanchbery wrote. Damages in those cases will be determined at a later date.