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Hughes sues MP, B'Nai Brith Says anti-Semite accusations have ruined career

By: Nick Martin

23/06/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 4

John Woods / THE CANADIAN PRESS archives Lesley Hughes claims she has been ridiculed and shunned after being labelled anti-Semitic. (CP)

Former federal Liberal candidate Lesley Hughes has sued federal cabinet minister Peter Kent, the Canadian Jewish Congress, B'Nai Brith of Canada and four senior members of the two Jewish organizations.

Hughes says in a lawsuit filed June 16 in Court of Queen's Bench the defendants made untrue and defamatory accusations Hughes is anti-Semitic and, as a result, former federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion revoked Hughes' candidacy in the Kildonan-St. Paul federal riding in September of 2008.

The defendants have not filed statements of defence, and Hughes' allegations made in her statement of claim have not been heard or proven in court.

Hughes acknowledges in her lawsuit she published an article in 2002 in a Winnipeg community newspaper, subsequently posted on a United Church of Canada website, in which she explored claims made by Internet sites about the 9/11 attacks the previous year -- particularly Internet allegations Israeli businesses vacated the World Trade Center a week before the attack, and that German intelligence had allegedly warned U.S., Israeli and Russian intelligence about the impending attacks.

Hughes says senior members of the two Jewish organizations went to Dion on Sept. 25, 2008, cited the six-year-old article, and persuaded Dion to revoke her candidacy on the grounds she was anti-Semitic and unfit for public office.

She says Kent, then a Tory candidate and now minister of state for foreign affairs (Americas), issued a news release on Sept. 26, 2008, in which Kent said Hughes holds "extreme, anti-Israel 9/11 conspiracy theories" and was "unfit to serve for public office."

Hughes, who stated she is a freelance journalist/broadcaster, said the accusations against her were widely published and broadcast. Hughes said she "has been branded as an anti-Semite and a person of unsavoury character and, as a result, is no longer employable in her role as a freelance journalist/broadcaster."

Hughes said she has been shunned, scorned and ridiculed, and has suffered mental distress and humiliation.

Hughes said all accusations against her were untrue. She has not specified the damages she is seeking.

A senior official with the Winnipeg office of B'Nai Brith Canada was unaware Monday of Hughes' lawsuit, and was not aware whether the organization has been served yet with the statement of claim.

Officials at B'Nai Brith Canada's national office in Toronto could not be reached.

Kent could not be reached at his Ottawa office.

Meanwhile, in a separate and unrelated matter, Hughes filed a lawsuit June 2 against the Forks Renewal Corporation, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, North Portage Development Corporation and North Portage Theatre Corporation.

Hughes alleges that on June 3, 2007, she fell on a staircase at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People at 2 Forks Market Rd., suffered personal injuries and faces permanent physical impairment.

The allegations have not been heard in court.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 23, 2009 B1

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4 Comments

Posted by: The RyeGuy

June 24, 2009 at 5:33 PM

David: Not sure what your angle is here but comparing her to a killer is uncalled for....She was merely pointing out what was said in an ISRAELI newspaper.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=77744&contrassID=/has\

Is Haraatz a Jew hating newspaper?? Is the Jewish owner of Odigo an anti-semite? What's the conspiracy? Lots of people were told to not go to work that day ( not just a Jewish company), intelligent agencies around the world knew what was going on... why is she Jew hating for pointing this out?

Did she say Israel was responsible for 911? NO Merely pointing out inconsistencies (whether they involve Israel or not) in the government fairy tale of 911 does make one a jew hater, it makes one a critical thinker who is not afraid to question the government and hold them accountable. This is a foreign concept in the mainstream media and probably why people were so shocked by some of the things she said...

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Posted by: David

June 24, 2009 at 9:29 AM

This country does not need an MP who holds the same conspiratorial beliefs about Jews and Israel as the Holocaust Museum shooter.

There are enough of those people in the parliaments and congresses of other countries, in many cases they are the entire political body.

Hughes' only hope in the case is to successfully demonstrate that she wrote the article with an intent to disprove this too-commonly held, paranoid belief, and ridicule it. However, if her article carried an air of sympathy for the Jew/Israel-hating branch of the 9/11 "truthers," then keeping her out of parliament makes sense.

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Posted by: alimansur

June 24, 2009 at 7:42 AM

Her articles stand for themselves. If she faced ridicule, did she not hold her articles up as a rebuttal? Any "humiliation" she feels probably stems from what she wrote, not what B'nai Brith said about her.

The main stream media can't sell papers because of the internet. Perhaps The RyeGuy gets all of his facts from the classifieds at the back of his town's weekly news tabloid.

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Posted by: The RyeGuy

June 23, 2009 at 10:21 PM

all previous comments deleted...Did B'nai Brith get a hold of the editor?...And the mainstream media wonders why they can't sell newspapers and need a bailout from the gov't....what a joke.. Editor's note: Incorrect, this is a different version of the story.