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Salmon harvest. (Photo Credit: Mainstream Canada)
Mainstream wins appeal against defamation
(CANADA, 7/23/2013)
Mainstream Canada won the case against anti-salmon farming activist Don Staniford, who was ordered to pay CAD 75,000 (USD 72,456) for his online defamation about the safety of farmed salmon.
"We are pleased that the court recognizes that especially in the age of the Internet, public comments need to be backed up by facts," said Laurie Jensen, Mainstream Canada's Communications and Corporate Sustainability Manager on the company’s website.
When Mainstream Canada originally took Staniford to court early in 2012, the judge ruled in his favour believing him to be a responsible corporate citizen although his comments were also found to be defamatory, since they considered to be motivated by express malice toward Mainstream.
In an official statement, the firm said Staniford’s remarks affected not only the company but its employees and their families as well.
"It affected our employees, their families, our suppliers and our partners. A company is not just its registration number. The soul of a company is its employees, and we need to stand up for them and defend them against malicious and defamatory attacks, and against cyberbullying," continued Jensen.
"The appropriate way to punish Staniford for his reprehensible conduct in the litigation is to award Mainstream special costs against him," wrote Justice David Tysoe in the judgment handed down this morning.
He allowed for an appeal because he said the public reading the comments were not in a position to judge whether they were true or not as they lacked the necessary information to do so. This ruled out a fair comment defence in Staniford’s favour.
The Canadian activist, who is set to wipe out salmon-farming with defamatory allegations, is not backing down.
"I intend to repeat these allegedly defamatory words," he told CBC News, speaking from Ireland.
In claims made online, he had stated that “salmon farming kills" and "salmon farming is poison" comparing salmon farming to tobacco products by using the same slogan.
Staniford says he intends to ask the Supreme Court of Canada for another appeal.
By Gabriela Raffaele
[email protected]
www.seafood.media
Information of the company:
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Grev Wedels plass 5
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Oslo
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(0102)
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Norway
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+47 23 68 50 00
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Fax:
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+47 23 68 50 99
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[email protected]
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