The Kielburger family filed a $3-million defamation suit against a Toronto publisher over allegations the mother put charity donations into a personal family account, says Blacklock’s Reporter..The lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court accuses Canadaland Inc. of waging “a smear campaign” against the Kielburgers..No statement of defence has yet been filed. The claim is unproven..The lawsuit stems from a podcast last September 20 that alleged Theresa Kielburger, 78, a retired Toronto schoolteacher, had “deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations directly into the family’s personal bank account” dating from the earliest days of We Charity in the 1990s..Lawyers for the family said while the podcast “did not expressly accuse Theresa of stealing, the issue of stealing charitable donations is raised.” The podcast was “shocking,” “vicious,” “callous,” “reckless,” “high-handed” and “reprehensible,” lawyers wrote the court..“The statement that Theresa deposited hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations directly into the family’s personal bank account is disinformation created and propagated by the defendants for the purposes of sensationalism,” said the court application..Lawyers noted the Kielburgers in 1997 sued Saturday Night magazine over a similar allegation that “money goes directly to the Kielburger family.”.“The caption appearing as a preview of the impugned podcast described it as ‘The White Saviours: Canadaland. True Crime,’” wrote lawyers..“The words meant and were understood to mean the allegations in the podcast, including the allegations made concerning Theresa, constituted acts of criminality.”.We Charity earlier served libel notice on Canadaland for alleging the Kielburgers “amassed a personal fortune worth over $30 million,” operated “tax shelters,” “engaged in a fraudulent vaccination scheme in Africa” and “acted in a deceptive manner.”.Canadaland publisher Jesse Brown in 2020 testimony at the Commons finance committee accused We Charity of “misuse of charitable funds” and “fraud and embezzlement within We Charity as alleged by We Charity itself.”.The Kielburgers denied the allegations at the time..Canadaland on July 9, 2020 was the first to publish evidence We Charity paid talent fees to members of the Prime Minister’s family prior to receiving a $43.5 million grant..Commons committee investigations later determined payments to Justin Trudeau’s family totaled $481,751..Canadaland also revealed We Charity hired then-Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s daughter out of college. Subsequent investigations determined We Charity covered $41,366 in expenses to host Morneau’s family at resorts in Ecuador and Kenya, prompting the finance minister to resign August 17, 2020 for breach of the Conflict Of Interest Act.
