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The Halton Herald [1] is a nonprofit newsgroup in Halton Hills, Ontario. The group, composed of volunteers, promotes itself as Halton's only independent news source. It accepts no government funding or private advertisements to maintain its reports.
The Halton Herald received national notoriety [2] when an Ontario Superior Court judge dismissed a civil action claim launched by The Town of Halton Hills. The Town had attempted to sue The Halton Herald's chief administrator, Al Kerouac, in an attempt to censor the nonprofit group's ability to publish critical reports on the town's administrators and its political board members' activities. [3]
The Halton Herald had published a series of stories regarding the injudicious conduct of Halton Hills Council, as well as publicly criticizing the discriminatory practices of a number of the town's senior administrators.
A Freedom of Information application disclosed that the then Town Chief Administrator, C.A.O. Bob Austin,[ citation needed ] and Mayor Bonnette [4] sought legal advice from a Town Solicitor who advised council that they could sue the Herald's Chief Administrator, Al Kerouac, for defamation. The Herald's Committee voted to challenge the action, to defend journalists' right to criticize governments without fear of reprisal or threat of litigation.
Ryder Gilliland [5] asserted in a motion to the Ontario Supreme Court, Halton Hills (Town) v. Kerouac, [2006] O.J. No. 1473(Sup.Ct.):
Ontario Superior Court Justice J. Corbett agreed, ordering that "the claim of the Town of Halton Hills be dismissed". He stated,
Lexpert.ca "GOVERNMENT BODIES CANNOT SUE FOR DEFAMATION"
Minutes of the Town of Halton Hills Council Meeting held on Monday, September 18, 2006, at 7:05 p.m. in the Town's Council Chamber, section 15-H of the minutes reflected the true sentiments of the community; Councillor M. Davis [ permanent dead link ] of the Town of Halton Hills advised that citizens have approached him regarding bullying on this Council and referred to an article titled "Why are bullies admired?". Councillor Davis believes that members of Council need to set an example as this is not an arena. Councillor Davis suggested that the Mayor should discourage this type of behaviour, and read several quotes from the newspaper article such as "the sad truth about bullying is that it achieves your aim to dominate", "they’re more popular than the victims", Councillor Davis also read the following except the decision issued by Justice David Corbett in the Town of Halton Hills vs. Kirouac, "The government may not imprison, or fine, or sue those who criticize it...litigation is a form of force, and the government must not silence the critics by force."
Strategic lawsuits against public participation, or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.
Milton is a town in Southern Ontario, Canada, and part of the Halton Region in the Greater Toronto Area. Between 2001 and 2011, Milton was the fastest growing municipality in Canada, with a 71.4% increase in population from 2001 to 2006 and another 56.5% increase from 2006 to 2011. In 2016, Milton's census population was 110,128 with an estimated growth to 228,000 by 2031. It remained the fastest growing community in Ontario but was deemed to be the sixth fastest growing in Canada at that time.
Georgetown is a large unincorporated community in the town of Halton Hills, Ontario, Canada, in the Regional Municipality of Halton. The town includes several small villages or settlements such as Norval, Limehouse, Stewarttown and Glen Williams near Georgetown and another large population centre, Acton. In 2016, the population of Georgetown was 42,123. It sits on the banks of the Credit River, approximately 40 km west of Toronto, and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. Georgetown was named after entrepreneur George Kennedy who settled in the area in 1821 and built several mills and other businesses.
Halton Hills is a town in the Regional Municipality of Halton, located in the northwestern end of the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada with a population of 62,951 (2021).
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled the freedom of speech protections in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution restrict the ability of a public official to sue for defamation. The decision held that if a plaintiff in a defamation lawsuit is a public official or candidate for public office, then not only must they prove the normal elements of defamation—publication of a false defamatory statement to a third party—they must also prove that the statement was made with "actual malice", meaning the defendant either knew the statement was false or recklessly disregarded whether it might be false. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan is frequently ranked as one of the greatest Supreme Court decisions of the modern era.
Acton is a community located in the town of Halton Hills, in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. At the northern end of the Region, it is on the outer edge of the Greater Toronto Area and is one of two of the primary population centres of the Town; the other is Georgetown. From 1842 until 1986, the town was a major centre for the tanning and leather goods industry. In the early years, it was often referred to as "Leathertown".
The Regional Municipality of Halton, or Halton Region, is a regional municipality in Ontario, Canada, located in the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario. It comprises the city of Burlington and the towns of Oakville, Milton, and Halton Hills. Policing in the Region is provided by the Halton Regional Police Service. The regional council's headquarters are located in Oakville. Burlington, Oakville, and Milton are largely urban and suburban, while Halton Hills is more rural.
Warren James Kinsella is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Sun, Ottawa Citizen, the National Post,The Walrus, and Postmedia newspapers. He appeared regularly on the Sun News Network. Kinsella is the founder of the Daisy Consulting Group, a Toronto-based firm that engages in paid political campaign strategy work, lobbying and communications crisis management.
Cecilia María Altonaga is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She is the first Cuban-American woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the United States.
Kyle Rae is a Canadian consultant and former politician. Rae was a member of Toronto City Council from 1991 to 2010, representing Ward 6 in the old city from 1991 to 1997 and Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale following the municipal amalgamation of Toronto in 1997.
The Halton Regional Police Service provides policing service for the Regional Municipality of Halton, which is located southwest of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. Halton Region encompasses the city of Burlington and the Towns of Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills. As of July 2020, the Halton Regional Police Service has over 1,000 members, including 718 sworn police officers and approximately 302 civilian and volunteer members. The service is responsible for policing a population of approximately 610,000 people in an area covering 692 square kilometers.
Sir Timothy Richard Shadbolt is a New Zealand politician. He was the Mayor of Invercargill from 1998 to 2022, and previously Mayor of Waitemata City.
Resolute Forest Products, formerly known as AbitibiBowater Inc., is a Canada-based pulp and paper company. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, the company was formed in 2007 by the merger of Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated. At that time, the merged company was the third largest pulp and paper company in North America, and the eighth largest in the world.
Frank Roger Mazzuca, Sr. was a Canadian politician and businessman in Capreol, Ontario. He served as mayor of the town from 1975 to 1997, and as chair of the Regional Municipality of Sudbury from 1998 to 2000.
Stephen Peter Estcourt is an Australian judge, who has been Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Tasmania since April 2013. From 2004 to 2013, he maintained barristers' chambers in Hobart and Melbourne, dividing his time between the two.
Lee Vandervis is a local-body politician who was first elected to the Dunedin City Council in the 2004 local elections. Vandervis has run for mayor in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022; finishing second in 2007 and 2019. Vandervis failed to win mayor again in 2022, but he was re-elected to the Council.
The Wikimedia Foundation has been involved in several lawsuits, generally regarding the content of Wikipedia. They have won some and lost others. In the United States, the Wikimedia Foundation typically wins defamation lawsuits brought against it due to protections that web platforms receive from laws like Section 230. However in cases among Europe and other countries, courts may rule otherwise. However, the Wikimedia foundation often ignores these orders and countries can not reach among borders to enforce any ruling.
Pendle is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Nelson, the borough's largest town. The borough also includes the towns of Barnoldswick, Brierfield, Colne and Earby along with the surrounding villages and rural areas. Part of the borough lies within the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
A double direct election is an election in which an individual is elected to two political offices in one electoral event. The term originates in Canada, where in certain regional council elections, an elected individual serves on a regional council and a constituent municipal government within that region. It differs from holding two elections with a double simultaneous vote in that in a double direct election, an individual is automatically elected to two political positions, whereas in double simultaneous vote elections, the pools of candidates are separate for the two positions.
George Darouze is the Ottawa City Councillor for Osgoode Ward. He was elected for the first time in the 2014 Ottawa municipal election.