
Birju Dattani, a former Canadian Human Rights Commissioner appointee, has launched multiple libel lawsuits seeking more than $2 million in damages, alleging that public statements made about him caused "irreparable harm" to his career and reputation.
"Mr. Dattani’s career and reputation have been irreparably harmed," wrote his lawyers in a claim filed in Ontario Superior Court.
"The defamatory statements are each crafted to provoke a visceral action. By their plain and ordinary meaning and through the insidious contexts in which they were presented, these statements paint a portrait of Mr. Dattani as a morally repugnant figure."
Dattani is claiming $800,000 in damages from Rebel News Network publisher Ezra Levant, $650,000 from Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman (Thornhill, Ont.), and $600,000 from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.
The lawsuits allege the three defendants defamed him by describing him as anti-Semitic and "unfit to serve as Canada’s human rights commissioner."
None of the claims have been proven in court, and no statements of defence have been filed. Ontario’s Libel And Slander Act requires individuals claiming reputational harm to serve notice within six weeks and file their claim within 90 days. Dattani’s lawyers declined to comment on whether the lawsuits were filed within the legal deadline.
“The controversy surrounding the appointment of Mr. Dattani by the Liberal government is a matter of public record. I will vigorously defend myself against these baseless claims," said Lantsman.
Dattani, formerly president of the Muslim Students’ Association at the University of Calgary and the London School of Economics, was appointed on June 11 to a five-year, $394,000-per-year term as Canada’s Human Rights Commissioner.
His appointment was set to take effect on August 8, but just before he was to assume office, Attorney General Arif Virani announced he would "not begin work."
Dattani later apologized for actions during his student years, including a 2014 lecture where he referred to terrorism as a "well-calculated strategy" for Muslims.
"It is in fact a rational and well-calculated strategy that is pursued with surprisingly high success rates," he told a conference of Muslim PhD students in Istanbul.
He later told federal interviewers he had changed his views and now condemns terrorism.
Records show Dattani attended a protest outside the Israeli Embassy while studying in the UK, though he denied making reported remarks calling for a boycott of Israel and its goods.
He also spoke as a panelist at "Israeli Apartheid Week" events at Cambridge University in 2014 and 2015 and admitted to posting tweets accusing Israel of "war crimes" and comparing Palestinians in Gaza to Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
"He explained that with the benefit of hindsight he would not have sent that tweet," said an August 12 Report Regarding Appointment commissioned by the Department of Justice.
"He stated he 'was a grad student' and 'was doing a lot of rapid fire tweeting.'"
The report, prepared by Toronto law firm Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP, criticized Dattani’s explanations. "In our view during the course of our interview and in his additional submissions he deliberately de-emphasized the manner in which his academic work was critical of the State of Israel in respect of its treatment of Palestinians," it stated.
"Mr. Dattani’s efforts to downplay the critical nature of his work was concerning and certainly his failure to directly disclose this work deprived the government of the opportunity to have a discussion with Mr. Dattani about what if any impact his scholarship and perspective would or could have if he were appointed to the role of Chief Commissioner."