A B.C. Supreme Court justice has ordered an environmentalist to pay $15,000 for defaming a Tofino-area salmon farming company.
Justice Laura Gerow dismissed Don Staniford's defence of fair comment and justification and ruled the former Friends of Clayoquot Sound campaigner defamed the Creative Salmon Company Ltd. in two June 2005 press releases.
Specifically, Judge Gerow ordered Mr. Staniford to pay $10,000 in general damages and $5,000 for aggravated damages. Creative Salmon did not sue the Friends Of Clayoquot Sound.
The press release questioned the company's use of malachite green, an antibiotic and suspected carcinogen, on market fish.