Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz is suing the University of Winnipeg, the publisher of its student newspaper the Uniter, and a volunteer writer after a column Katz felt was defamatory.
The Uniter ran an article Dec. 5, 2013 by Josh Benoit titled “The Local Political Blunder,” which suggested Katz pressured the city’s former chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl to make a deal with a real estate company.
The Uniter has temporarily pulled the article from its website while the lawsuit is before court. A correction published Jan. 30 apologized for reporting that Sheegl received a severance payment of “nearly a half-million dollars” following his resignation, admitting the true value of his compensation will not be known until July 2014.
Nicholas Friesen, managing editor of the Uniter, said the newspaper stands by Benoit.
“With respect to the Mayor’s comments in the media, we’ve retained legal counsel and our lawyer, Bob Sokalski, is in contact with the Mayor’s lawyer,” Friesen said via email.
Friesen declined to comment further on the specifics of the case.
The university distanced itself from the newspaper in a Feb. 3 statement.
It called the inclusion of the university in the lawsuit “erroneous,” as the university, “exercises no control whatsoever over The Uniter’s actions, editorial content, reporters or editorial board,” the statement read.
The university also stated that the publisher of the Uniter, Mouseland Press Inc., is “a private and independent company . . . and is separate from the University.”
Katz’s lawyer Robert Tapper declined to comment on the lawsuit.
This is not the first time a university paper has faced a lawsuit based on claims of defamation.
In March 2009, Simon Fraser University’s student newspaper, the Peak, and its copy editor were sued for publishing three articles about the finances of Douglas College’s student union. The articles also suggested the former financial co-ordinator of the union, Douglas Hansen, was guilty of fraud.
The Peak was found liable in the case. In 2010, this decision was upheld and the paper’s appeal was dismissed.
