Another Familiar Face - Oh, the irony! (updated)

AUPE has been unusually tight-lipped about their SLAPP suit against those who dared support us online.  Perhaps, after the media attention their actions have gotten, they are hoping that if they just keep quiet, people will stop talking about it, and they can continue using the civil court system to try and intimidate people from talking about what they have done to our community since May 7.

They have, however, made a couple of public statements.  Here's one, from their website.

Let's take a closer look at this.

In late August, AUPE filed a statement of claim against three parties in regard to defamatory statements they made about our members and staff.  We did not take this action lightly, but the statements were serious enough that they required a response.

Well, they just confirmed that they filed the statement back in August, but for some reason, they sat on it until the end of September.  If these statements were so egregious as they claim, why did they wait for so long?

We consulted external legal counsel on this matter and obtained an opinion that legal action was merited.  The larger decision was weighing the need to defend our members and staff from damaging and untrue accusations against the possibility that we face further attacks for doing so.

External legal counsel, eh?  Must be nice, having unlimited funds to hire outside lawyers.  Oh, wait.  "Counsel."

Also, what "damaging and untrue accusations" were made about their members and staff?  We only know about Kathleen's tweets, one blog post from someone in Ontario that actually came to Artspace and talked to a number of people who live here (identified as a politician, except he doesn't hold any political office), and a single quote, without context, from this blog.  None of which named anybody, nor made any untrue statements.

In the face of this risk, we chose to defend the reputation of our members and staff.

Gosh, what a noble sounding way to defend their actions.  Such risk taking!  The multi-million dollar union, suing a stay-at-home mom with a twitter account, a guy in Ontario that hopes to run for office, and a non-existent Jane Doe.

Who knew AUPE was so fragile?

Defending its reputation in the courts obliges AUPE to remain silent about the nature of the false accusation.  

They claim these public tweets and posts are false and damaging their reputation, but then say they have to "remain silent about the nature of the false accusation."

How convenient.


Let's take a look at some of these tweets, seeing as how they're, you know, out there in the twitterverse.

 @_AUPE_ Members were blocking people from leaving the residence. Move out of the damn way. Those are PRIVATE CITIZENS #UnitedWithKikki

No AUPE members are named, and it's true; they were blocking all sorts of people who had nothing to do with the labour dispute. Plenty of videos to back that up.

 .@_AUPE_ Should let public know how members are harassing & abusing private residents at Art Space: youtu.be/OpAGhXrqQs4 #UnitedWithKikki

Again, no AUPE members named, and it includes a link to a video, proving the statement.

 .@_AUPE_ how bout private citizens being blocked by Art Space residents who aren't associated w/SAIL? youtu.be/z-S3qSOq-q8 #UnitedWithKikki

Another true statement, linking to a video to back it up.

 . @_AUPE_ members who harass, bully, threaten the disabled residents at the complex: youtube.com/watch?v=OpAGhX… #UnitedWithKikki . @_AUPE_ worse than blocking. They scream sirens at 8 a.m., verbally attack disabled residents, threaten. #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Once again, a true statement, with a video link to back it up.

 . @_AUPE_ lawyer screaming threats of subpeonas at disabled residents:youtu.be/k6hakuNxoog #artspaceundersiege #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Another true statement backed up with a link to video - including the lawyer part, since at the time, that's what we all thought he was, how he was identified in numerous media articles, and even how AUPE represented him on twitter.

 . @_AUPE_ Vids show blatant harassment. AUPE attacking private, disabled residents. youtube.com/watch?v=OpAGhX… #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Another statement backed up with video link.

 @_AUPE_ encouraging continued harassment of private, disabled citizens at their homes is DISGUSTING. #ableg #UnitedWithKikki
 Happening at #yeg Art Space-not story @_AUPE_ telling media or public. Threats, bullying: artspaceundersiege.blogspot.ca #UnitedWithKikki

Here we have a personal opinion (that said actions, backed up by previous videos, are disgusting), with a link to this blog to back it up.

 .@_AUPE_ Yr members have created unlivable state in neighborhood. Feel proud of members attacking disabled people? #ableg #UnitedWithKikki

Another descriptive statement, describing how many Artspace members, visitors, family members and even neighbours felt, followed by a question.

How are any of these defamatory attacks on AUPE members and staff? They describe what is actually shown in the videos. What Artspace members say they feel like.

The key thing about defamation is that, if it's true, it isn't defamation*, and there is plenty of video evidence, as well as incident reports from Artspace members (some of which are posted here on the blog; visit the archives links on the right, to read them yourself).
[*update: edit on poorly phrased sentance structure]

AUPE's official statement closes with;

As a result AUPE will not be commenting on the specifics of the attacks while the matter is before the courts.  But members should be assure that in this case the law is being used as a shield, not a sword.

Uh huh.

More on that below...

Meanwhile, there was another public statement from AUPE, this time to the Edmonton Journal, in response to their Editorial.

Here it is, with commentary.

Friday October 3
Law a shield, not a sword
Re: “Use hammer sparingly,” Editorial, Oct. 1
There are hundreds of tweeters and bloggers commenting on the SAIL strike/lockout. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has sued three individuals out of the hundreds who have commented. We welcome the free exchange of ideas and views, and of course we recognize that we are also engaged in the exercise of free speech when we picket. AUPE is very much in favour of free speech.

Uh huh.  Sure they do, and sure they are.

But only when that "free speech" is in support of them, not in opposition to them, it seems.

But almost all the bloggers and tweeters, as well as respectable media outlets and the journalists who write for them, are aware there are limits to free speech.

That one should have come with a spew alert.  I think a lot of people were wiping coffee off their monitors after reading that one.

One of those limits is very important: you cannot make a false accusation that attacks a person’s integrity and lowers their reputation in the community.

Agreed, if the accusations are false.  As we've demonstrated, however, these are not false accusations they are suing for.  They are tweets and comments that are either backed up by photo, video and witness accounts, or personal opinions and observations.

The only ones lowering AUPE's reputation in the community where the people on the picket line, engaging in the abusive behaviour.

There is recent precedent for an organization to take legal action to defend itself against false accusations. The Alberta Teachers’ Association, for instance, took such action to defend itself against accusations made by a critic on Twitter this summer. A few years ago, a Red Deer lawyer successfully defended his reputation against attacks from a provincial cabinet minister.

And what does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

Defending its reputation in the courts obliges AUPE to remain silent about the nature of the false accusation. As a result AUPE will not be commenting on the specific attacks on its reputation while the matter is before the courts.

Well, that's a first.  They certainly had no problem bringing up their labour board complaints against SAIL, even after those complaints were withdrawn.

But readers should be assured that in this case the law is being used as a shield, not a sword.

Right.  We're supposed to believe that, are we?

We've had members sharing an interesting conversation they had with their pastor, long before the strike started and about an unrelated matter, about the secular justice system.  Basically, the discussion was about how the courts are the sword, while the Word is the shield.

If we were to apply this to the current SLAPP suit against people who merely talked about what is actually happening here at Artspace, AUPE is using the sword of the courts, while claiming to take on the role that belongs to God.

Sorry, AUPE, but you are not God.

Meanwhile, this is who wrote the letter, which is so much like the statement on the AUPE website.

Mark Wells, supervisor of research, education and communications, AUPE

It's not the first time this Mark Wells has written to the journal about what's going on here.  In this letter from May 24th, he basically slanders the reputation of one of our members (yes, we have video of the incident he's talking about, too).

He's also identified in the old letter as merely an AUPE "spokesperson."  Did he get a promotion or something?

Hey, Mark.  You want to talk about defamation and false accusations?  Why don't we take a look at what that really looks like.





This is the first of 8 clips showing...

Oh.  Hold on.

Of course Mr. Wells knows what it looks like.

He's in the videos.

That's right.  Among the trio of men engaging in this elaborate street theatre in front of Artspace back on August 2nd is...

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Mark Wells, who has been identified by several people.

In the above photo, you can see him with AUPE's non-lawyer, William Rigutto, on the left in the yellow t-shirt.

The other guy in a yellow t-shirt is this guy.

That's from the David Eggen endorsement page.

Here are a few more screen caps from security video taken on August 2nd, but really, go check out the video above, so you can hear for yourself.

As you can see (and hear, if you've watched the videos), he's not just an observer, but an active participant.  And, gosh, he looks so HAPPY while doing it!

In this image, you can't see the piece of paper he's holding up, but on the video, you can see him continue to record the person driving the car he's helping block, well after he's stopped holding up the paper.

The passenger of that car was a board member.

I say "was" because she got out of the car, in hopes that they would allow the driver to go into the underground parking, once she left.

They didn't, and continued blocking that car for some time longer.

Ah, but that's not all about Mr. Wells.

Some of our members know him by another name - Mark Daley, which is the name he goes by on Facebook.

On his Facebook page, he says he works for AUPE.

But that's not the strangest thing about Mr. Wells/Daley.  We also found this.

That's right.

The guy that has written to the Edmonton Journal in defense of his employer, AUPE, is also a photographer and journalist.

That might explain how AUPE's letters get published so very quickly.

Talk about irony!  The AUPE "supervisor of research, education and communications" actually engaged in the very behaviour the exposure of which lead to the negative attention AUPE has been getting in social media.

Just a few things from the videos;

The sign he's wearing?  It says "SAIL - all subsidy, no accountability."

Of course, there IS accountability for SAIL's funding, so that's a defamatory statement right there around his neck.

In the video, they also accuse SAIL, named SAIL board members and named Artspace members, basically of fraud and embezzlement.

They also throw out accusations such as SAIL paying for the phones some people were using to record their performance.

They claim SAIL paid hundreds of dollars for pizza and entertainment for Friends of SAIL meetings.

They suggest that Artspace has shredded SAIL financial documents.

They suggest SAIL is paying a non-Artspace member illegally to make a documentary about their actions.

They threaten to subpoena the bank accounts of all Artspace members, looking for money they suggest SAIL has given us.

They threaten to subpoena all our video recordings - which would be pretty counterproductive, since not only are many of these videos already online, but they show AUPE picketers engaging in all the behaviours we've been talking about.

And so on.

Seriously.  Grab a drink and a snack, settle in and watch the videos.

If there's anyone who should be filing for defamation, it's Artspace members against Wells/Daley, Rigutto and Zimmerman.

Lucky for them, no one in Artspace has millions (pdf) in union dues to tap to pay for lawyers.


Update: Oct. 10

This post was published late Oct. 5th.  A supporter found something interesting on Oct. 6th and sent in this image.

The person had been checking out something they remembered seeing on Mark Daley's facebook page (the post in this image) when things suddenly changed.

They just happened to be looking at the same time Mark changed his profile name to Athabasca Poem.

He also removed public reference to his place of employment, and I believe that above post from May 24 is no longer viewable to the public.

We've always known that AUPE has been all over this blog, but the proof doesn't get more blatant than this!