Free Speech Monitor, September 1998

Kinsella Retracts Smear of Rocan

WARREN KINSELLA, the poster boy of establishment anti-racism and author of the much flawed Web of Hate, was sued for defamation by B.C. political activist Roger Rocan. At the very last minute, on July 20, [1998] just as the libel action was heading for trial. Kinsella and his publishers HarperCollins issued an apology and a substantial cheque!

While the exact amount is confidential, suffice it to say that it is substantially more than an earlier offer -- summarily rejected -- in the $15,000 range. The apology states:

"Harper Collins ... and Warren Kinsella state that the words 'fascist, Klanmen, Jew hater and Hitler freak' should not, and do not refer to Roger Rocan [and] regret any adverse inference concerning Roger Rocan which could have been taken from the passage."

Here is the defamatory passage, or wild rant, penned by the poster boy who still remains a favourite television commentator on the right, although more recently he's been pressed into service to defend his former boss, Jean Chretien, in the pepper-spraying of APEC protesters.

"In the fall of 1992, Judd [sic] Cyllorn and virtually every single fascist, Klansman, Jew hater and Hitler freak in British Columbia and beyond came together to form a formidable political force. They were hell-bent, they said, on stopping the constitutional reform package called the Charlottetown Accord. Along with Cyllorn -- who ran an officially registered 'no' committee out of the Procult Institute's office -- many others associated with the province's far right were active in the anti-Charlottetown movement. Among them were lawyer Doug Christie; Roger Rocan, a Victoria resident who was expelled from the Reform Party because his views were too far to the right.... The Canadian neo-nazis opposed the deal because they believed that a 'no' victory would lead to greater disunity and economic chaos. From there, they reasoned, it would be easier to gather support for their racist agenda."-- Web of Hate, p.68-69

Our opinion

SO MR KINSELLA has a proven record of costly defamation.
Not the ideal witness for a defendant in a U.K. libel action.

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