Libel case involving Garden River councillors tossed out of court

A legal dispute within Garden River First Nation leadership over a social media post made by a member of band council has been tossed out of court, according to a decision handed down by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Sault Ste. Marie.    

Coun. Karen Bell, who is also a sergeant with Anishinabek Police Service, filed a notice of libel against Garden River First Nation and fellow band councillors Brandi Nolan and Trevor Solomon in December 2021 after council passed — and later rescinded — a censure motion requiring Bell to “remove the post and acknowledge that the information was incorrect,” according to court documents.  

“During the last term I had requested a number of times our financial statements and a budget. For the last year we have seen nothing,” read the social media post in question, which was posted publicly to Bell's Facebook page in October of last year. 

According to meeting minutes supplied to the court, an audit for the 2019-2020 fiscal year was presented to band council by Garden River First Nation accountants in May of last year and was subsequently approved. Bell voted against the approval of the financial statements. 

The 2021-2022 budget was then approved by council in June 2021, with Bell both chairing the special working meeting and voting to approve the budget.  

A censure motion was then tabled and passed by band council in November 2021, two weeks after Bell posted the statement in question to social media. The motion instructed Bell to publish an acknowledgement that the information provided in the social media post was false within one day of the censure motion, and remove an unsanctioned ‘Councillor Karen Bell’ Facebook page within three days of the public acknowledgement. 

The censure motion was rescinded by Garden River First Nation leadership later that month. 

In the statement of claim that followed, Bell alleged that portions of the censure motion were defamatory in nature. 

“Specifically, the plaintiff submits that the censure motion makes it appear as though the entire social media post contained falsehoods and that the censure motion effectively states that Coun. Bell is a liar,” the court documents said. “The factual underpinnings of this evidential matrix require a trial.”

Lawyers representing Garden River and the other defendants argued for a summary judgment, an order dismissing the lawsuit before it ever reaches trial.

In a ruling released last week, Superior Court Justice Michael Varpio agreed there was no “genuine issue for trial.” 

“...the 'sting' of the censure motion — that Coun. Bell’s statement that 'for two years we [GRFN council] have seen nothing' regarding financial statements or a budget was false and 'very misleading' — is substantially correct,” Varpio wrote in his Oct. 11 decision. 

Unless Bell chooses to file an appeal, the court case is now closed.