Ex-MKO employee defends video
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A former Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak employee being sued for defamation by the organization and its executive director says information she posted online is true and fair comment.
Stephan Thliveris, Loretta Rudrum’s lawyer, said in a statement of defence filed Friday that Rudrum posted a YouTube video touching on numerous issues about MKO and its executive director Kelvin Lynxleg. They include “governance, employment practices, fiscal responsibility, and accounting and reporting.”
The information was “fair comment on matters of public interest” and was “based on truth from documentation, personal observations and experiences and communications,” the document states.
“There was a social, moral and even legal duty and interest of (Rudrum) to produce and publish the YouTube video as the contents deal with matters of public interest.”
Rudrum worked at MKO, which represents northern First Nations, until resigning on Feb. 15, 2023.
Rudrum said that after watching the YouTube video in September 2024, Keewatin Tribal Council Grand Chief Walter Wastesicoot asked her to prepare a report. The report was later given to the council and Indigenous Services Canada.
She said the federal department then “opened a file to undertake a formal analysis of the report” and that the analysis has recommended a forensic audit be done “of all MKO programs that received federal funding.”
“If (MKO and Lynxleg) are the subject of public odium or contempt, it is the result of their own conduct and public comments and not as a result of the alleged defamatory statements,” Rudrum said in the statement of defence.
MKO and Lynxleg filed a statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench in May asking for general and punitive damages for various online postings by Rudrum starting in February 2023. They are also seeking a permanent injunction restraining Rudrum from continuing to publish allegedly defamatory statements and to delete them online.
Both the statements of claim and defence include allegations that have not yet been proven in court.
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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