AUPE sues tweeter, blogger in $500,000 defamation suit

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has filed a $500,000 defamation lawsuit against a local tweeter, an Ontario politician and an unidentified blogger for Internet statements about an ongoing labour strike.

The lawsuit, filed in late August, claims that Kathleen Smith ­— known on Twitter as @KikkiPlanet­ — and Jason Tucker, a politician seeking the Conservative nomination in the new federal riding of Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas made “false and defamatory statements” about the union.

Since May 2014, AUPE members have maintained a picket line at the Artspace Housing Cooperative on 101A Avenue. Supports for Artspace Independent Living, or SAIL, employs union members to provide home care services for residents of the housing cooperative.

The suit also lists an unidentified Jane Doe as a defendant that they believe is an Artspace resident whose blog has detailed the ongoing labour dispute.

The union claims that several of Smith’s tweets from Aug. 7 and 8, 2014 stated “either directly or by innuendo” that union members violated the provincial Labour Relations Code, engaged in “psychological, verbal and physical abuse” against Artspace residents and acted dishonestly.

The union reproduced 19 tweets in the statement of claim they consider defamatory.

“Blocking people from access to homes, air raid sirens at 8 a.m., verbal abuse, physical threats not ‘legal job action,’” one reads. “Thankfully there are countless videos showing your members threatening and harassing residents. The jig is up.”

In other tweets, Smith states the union uses “bully tactics” and harassment. Most of the tweets provide a link to the union’s own Twitter page.

The Jane Doe blog lists similar accusations against union members over a three-month period the union considers defamatory.

“When we see people who have been an integral part of our community, some for more than 10 years, suddenly out on the picket line, engaging in verbal abuse, intimidation, racism, sexism and able-ism and other forms of misconduct on the picket line, it was quite the betrayal,” the blog reads.

Tucker, the lawsuit states, defamed the union in an Aug. 18, 2014 blog post titled “if it happened there, it can happen here too.” In that post, Tucker stated that housing cooperative residents were being “held hostage” in their homes by picketing union members.

Statements of claim contain allegations not proven in court.

A statement of defence has not yet been filed.

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