The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has lost its 12-year defamation battle against Toronto journalist Jerry Agar, with Ontario's top court ruling that vigorous and sometimes "heated" public debate is part of a free and democratic society.The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a lower court ruling dismissing CUPW's lawsuit and ordered the union to pay $100,000 in costs."The essential elements of the defence of fair communication are that the publication is on a matter of public interest, and the publication was responsible, as in the respondents were diligent in trying to address the allegations and sought to verify them," Justice Julie Thorburn wrote for the court.Blacklock's Reporter said the case dated to a 2014 Toronto street demonstration involving Palestinian Canadians. Protesters were seen carrying CUPW flags, while a separate individual displayed a Hamas banner. Hamas has been listed as a terrorist organization in Canada since 2002.Agar, a CFRB radio host, questioned during a July 23, 2014 appearance on Sun TV's The Source whether CUPW had "lent their support to terrorist groups."Agar interviewed Avi Benlolo, then with the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, who criticized the union's presence at the demonstration and questioned why a labour organization representing Canadian postal workers was involved in the protest.The program presented viewers with the question: "Why Are They Marching With Hamas Supporters?"Agar also addressed the controversy in a Toronto Sun column headlined "Hamas Goes Postal? Only In Canada."In the column, Agar wrote that he expected CUPW to distance itself from Hamas and explain that its participation was intended to support Palestinian civilians and peace.Instead, he criticized the union's response after it declined to make such a statement at the time..The Court of Appeal noted Agar and the other respondents had offered CUPW an opportunity to respond before publication."The respondents gave CUPW the opportunity to provide a written statement denying that they supported terrorism or to appear on the program to present CUPW's side of the story, which CUPW elected not to do," Thorburn wrote.Union spokesperson Aalya Ahmad said at the time that "working people have as much right as anybody else to hold and express opinions on international issues."The Ontario Superior Court, which originally dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, said that response did the union "no favours" because CUPW declined at the time to explicitly state, as it later did during the litigation, that it did not support terrorists.The lower court characterized the dispute as part of a contentious public debate in which CUPW strongly criticized media coverage of the Middle East while Agar and Benlolo criticized aspects of the union's political activism."Nevertheless the debate of these issues is what a free and democratic society does," the Superior Court ruled.The Court of Appeal has now upheld that decision, ending CUPW's defamation action after 12 years of litigation.
