In separate B.C. Supreme Court court defence filings, a Quesnel city councillor and a First Nations lobby group have each denied that they defamed the wife of Quesnel Mayor Ron Paull.
Coun. Laurey-Anne Roodenberg and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) maintain they rightfully offered opinions about Pat Morton’s promotion of a book skeptical of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 report and the 2021 claim that remains of 215 children had been buried near at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc band’s ground-penetrating radar expert clarified her findings, to say that equipment detected 200 “anomalies.” The site has not been excavated.
Morton’s May lawsuits against Roodenburg and UBCIC accused them of harming her reputation, causing her physical and mental distress and exposing her to danger. In 2024, Morton purchased 11 copies of Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth About Residential Schools) and provided them to the school district library, a local MLA and mother of Coun. Tony Goulet, who is Metis.
Roodenburg’s May 30 response said she made the statements about Morton at a city council meeting without malice and in the public interest, based on fact. She pleads qualified privilege, as an elected official.
Roodenburg’s defence statement, filed by North Vancouver defamation lawyer Roger McConchie, said the format of Morton’s notice of civil claim does not comply with court rules. On June 23, Roodenburg informed the court that she replaced McConchie with Vancouver lawyer David McKnight.
UBCIC filed its response on June 6, explaining it sent a letter on April 2, 2024 to City of Quesnel after a member of the Nazko First Nation sought support. UBCIC said it published the letter in good faith and without malice, and that it “does not characterize the plaintiff as a ‘promoter of residential school denialism’.” UBCIC pleads justification, fair comment, responsible communication and qualified privilege.
“UBCIC has been vocal in challenging residential school denialism and what it views as the book's dissemination of misinformation harmful to residential school survivors and their families, the goals of reconciliation, and the specific calls to action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” said the filing by Vancouver lawyers Allan Doolittle and Natasha John.
On June 11, Morton replied, stating UBCIC acted with “reckless disregard for the truth and that the statements made were done with malice or gross negligence.” As for Roodenburg, Morton said “her statements were false, defamatory and delivered in a hostile and accusatory tone.”
Morton is seeking damages, costs, a declaration that Roodenburg breached City of Quesnel’s code of conduct and an order for Roodenburg to issue a formal public apology.
In March, a BC Supreme Court judge quashed three resolutions to censure and sanction Paull.
Paull successfully claimed that Quesnel city council’s April 30, 2024 decisions against him were made without procedural fairness. Councillors voted to withdraw Paull’s travel budget and remove him from city committees and the Cariboo Regional District board after Morton shared the book.
