Judge’s ruling means Canadian MP’s suit against broadcaster can proceed

Chinese-Canadian lawmaker Han Dong secured a legal victory this week as a judge in Ontario found it “indisputable” that broadcaster Global News had slandered Dong in its reporting about his involvement with the Chinese government, allowing his defamation suit against the company to proceed.

The judgment, dated Wednesday, rejected Global News’ attempt to have Dong’s suit dismissed and ordered the company to cover his legal costs for its failed motion. Dong, who is seeking C$15 million (US$11 million) in damages, had filed the lawsuit last year after a Global News article alleged, citing unnamed national security sources, that he advised the Chinese consulate in Toronto in 2021 to delay the release of two Canadians then held in China.

“The defendants have no tangible and no documentary corroboration of the information derived from the confidential sources about the conversation between Dong and the Chinese Consul General,” Paul Perell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said on Wednesday.

Global News, which reported the incident in March 2023, had argued that Dong filed a “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” a type of legal action meant to suppress dissent and criticism. The judge disagreed, saying that Dong had no purpose beyond restoring his reputation.

Perell said it was of “considerable public interest” that there be a trial, adding that it was “indisputable” that the reporting caused “immense damage” to Dong’s reputation and career prospects.

“Dong may be a villain, or he may be an innocent,” the judge said. “The defendants may have outed a villain and be lauded for it, or they may have wrongfully accused an innocent man, and if so, they should be embarrassed, and they should pay reparations.”

The judge noted that although journalists at other outlets had also received tips about the conversation, they chose not to report on it without seeing a transcript.

As a result of the allegations, Dong resigned from the caucus of his political party – the ruling Liberal Party of Canada – and became a subject of federal government investigations into foreign interference.

The lawmaker from Toronto, who now sits as an independent, had acknowledged speaking to the Chinese consul general, but has consistently denied Global News’ allegations about the content of his conversation and his involvement in Chinese electoral interference networks.

Responding to the court’s decision, Dong wrote on Thursday: “I have been clear from the beginning. I never advocated or supported in any way the violation of the basic human rights and continued wrongful detention of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig.”

Kovrig and Spavor were returned to Canada in September 2021 after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was released from house arrest in Canada, in a case widely described as “hostage diplomacy”.

A Global News representative said that although the Canadian broadcaster was “disappointed” in Wednesday’s decision, “we are encouraged by the recognition of foreign government interference as a matter of public interest in Justice Perell’s ruling”.

Sam Cooper, the journalist who reported the incident at issue and multiple other cases of alleged Chinese government interference, did not respond to a request for comment. Cooper, who was named as a defendant in Dong’s suit, has left Global News and continues to write publicly on Chinese interference in Canada.

The Canadian government has responded to concerns of foreign interference with multiple investigations, including a public inquiry which is expected to release its final report in December, as well as a foreign agents registry, legislation for which was tabled in May.

A previous government investigation led by Canada’s former governor general David Johnston found allegations about Dong’s conduct regarding the two detained Canadians false. It also rejected claims that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government knowingly failed to act on intelligence briefings about Beijing’s attempts to meddle in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, which his party won.

China has denied all allegations of interference, saying it has no interest in meddling with Canada’s internal affairs.