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CAUT/ACPPU Bulletin Online
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As part of the agreement with Barrick Gold, �cosoci�t�, a small publisher based in Quebec, has put an end to publishing & reprinting Noir Canada. But the publisher & academics/authors Alain Deneault, Delphine Abadie & William Sacher still face a $5M libel lawsuit by Banro Corporation, a Canadian-based company with mining operations along a major gold belt of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (worldpics/shutterstock.com)
Barrick Gold Corp. and Noir Canada publisher and authors have reached an out-of-court settlement, ending a legal dispute over the book critiquing the Canadian mining industry�s actions in Africa.
Earlier this year, a Quebec Superior Court justice ruled Barrick had to pay $143,000 to the book�s three authors and publisher, Les �ditions �cosoci�t� Inc., to prepare their defense in a �seemingly abusive� SLAPP lawsuit � a strategic lawsuit against public participation. Barrick said it intended to appeal the court�s decision while continuing to pursue the $6 million defamation claim launched against the group in 2008. But in a joint statement issued Oct. 18, the parties announced they had reached a settlement that included a significant payment to Barrick and agreement to stop publishing the book. �The settlement was only made for the sole purpose of resolving the three-and-a-half year legal battle,� says Noir Canada author Alain Deneault, �which means we can return to having our discussions back in the public sphere, instead of the courtroom.� The authors maintain that the book deserves to be published and that there should still be an inquiry into the relationship between Ca�nadian mining corporations, arm�ed conflict, and political actors in Africa. �We don�t do legal work,� says Deneault, �but we understand that there are a number of documented allegations in these areas, and a large presence of transnational mining companies, and that the allegations need to be investigated.� Montreal law professor Pierre Noreau and 14 other of Quebec�s leading academics and authors published an open letter Oct. 19 in Le Devoir warning that the settlement shows �that the lawsuit was from the very beginning not a procedure meant to refute but rather to silence the authors and their legitimate questions.� The settlement offers a chance for Barrick to prevent evidence from becoming public through the judicial system that could tarnish the company�s image. The authors, on the other hand, �were desperately trying to extricate themselves from a legal unbearable straitjacket,� the letter states. Deneault is now focusing on promotion of his latest book, Imperial Canada Inc.: Legal Haven of Choice for the World�s Mining Industries, which has also been the target of threatened legal action from Barrick. |
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