Sikh group sues CBC for defamation
A Sikh organisation says it has filed a $110 million lawsuit against the CBC. It says the CBC has linked it to terrorism and damaged the reputation of the overall Sikh community. The World Sikh Organisation is also suing CBC TV reporter Terry Milewski. The issue revolves around a documentary aired two weeks ago called Samosa Politics.
WSO claims to represent Canada’s entire Sikh community of about 400,000 people. A spokesperson for the group said the CBC attempted to make a connection between the group and violence and extremism.
“I was totally awed, shocked and flabbergasted when I saw the documentary. Nor was the organisation ever contacted to comment for the documentary,” the WSO official said. “They should have had the courtesy of calling.”
But according to CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay, the Corporation hasn’t received notification of the lawsuit, but stands behind its story.
Update: CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay says: “I can confirm that we are in receipt of a Libel Notice and a Statement of Claim issued by the World Sikh Organization of Canada, which we are in the process of evaluating. We will not be making any further comment at this time.”
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Excellent move by the WSO for standing up for the rights of innocent Canadians. The CBC was acting as a tyrannical power, spouting completely unsubstantiated and totally exaggerated lies and slander (which is outside of our freedom of speech rights). Milewski should be fired and the CBC should apologize.
I’m going to have to read up more on this issue, but if these allegations are proved true, it’s going to take a lot more to stop people like me from trusting the CBC for news content.
Of course, calling people “terrorists” is despicable if the CBC did so.
I viewed the documentary in question, only after hearing complaints from some Sikh friends. Watching carefully with these specific concerns in mind, I personally did not see anything defamatory towards the Sikh community. True, the report is not a glowing puff piece, but I don’t see any evidence of slander. Nor were the criticisms directed at all Canadian Sikhs, but rather at certain elements within the community. There are negative elements in every community; shining a spotlight on the less-than-desirable parts is hardly an indictment of the whole.
I also spent some time to view the piece again online (after originally watching it in the National) and I couldn’t find any obvious bias in the piece. Nothing like the bias as those opposed the piece claimed. I hope the CBC will stand by its reporters and its documentary.
It will be a sad day if CBC yield to accusation and lawsuit like this one.
I am a news junkie and I loved CBS 60 minutes until I realized they had initially killed the tobacco story. To me, Mike Wallace and 60 minutes will always have that episode of disgrace on their long history of well investigated and told stories.
I hate to see my beloved CBC fall into the same trap.
K. Sirtis,
Perhaps you are not fully aware of the realities of the Air India investigation, the role of the Indian intelligence agencies, the lack of credibility of Ujjal Dosanjh, Dave Hayer and Tarek Fatah as interviewees for this documentary, and the amount of misinformation presented by Terry Milewski.
This documentary was full of slander and falsifications. There were several dozen false statements – statements that are factually untrue. Terry Milewski knew that innocent-minded Canadians like yourself are (pardon my bluntness) ignorant of the reality and will take his bullshit as fact.
I humbly request and strongly urge you to do more research about the real Vaisakhi parade, what the Khalistan movement is really about, what happened with the Sikhs in 1947 separation of India and 1984 attack on the Golden Temple. Also please read the book “Soft Target.”
Talwinder Singh Parmar was never charged or convicted for any involvement in any terrorism at all, let alone the Air India bombing. Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were found not guilty (read: innocent) after a lengthy trial. Meanwhile, there were many links found between CSIS, government agents and the Indian intelligence agencies. A lot of evidence has been destroyed and tampered with, and it is just as plausible that Air India was committed by the Indian intelligence agencies to defame and discredit the Sikh community’s campaign for an autonomous and independent state of Khalistan. The Sikh community does not support violence and Khalistan is a not a campaign of violence but one of self determination and freedom from oppression, very similar to the campaigns for Tibet and Israel. The Sikh community has a right to be involved in Canadian politics and politicians have a right to visit the Vaisakhi parade. Out of 150, 000 visitors, if a small group of people were wearing Babbar Khalsa International t-shirts, it should not reflect badly on the entire community. You will just as easily find people wearing Hells Angels t-shirts at the St. Patrick’s Day parade.