CANADA
The Globe and Mail
SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Sep. 18, 2015
Nearly three years after an article alleged former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong abused his students when he was a gym teacher – casting a dark cloud over a man who had been much-lauded for his work leading the 2010 Games – a judge has handed him a significant victory, dismissing a defamation lawsuit against him.
B.C. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against freelance journalist Laura Robinson, who sued Mr. Furlong for his response to an article she wrote in the weekly newspaper Georgia Straight. The article accused Mr. Furlong of physically abusing students when he was an instructor at Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary School in Burns Lake, B.C., in 1969-70. Ms. Robinson published a second article that same day in the Anishinabek News, in which she wrote one student had gone to the RCMP to say she had been sexually assaulted.
Justice Catherine Wedge, in a 97-page ruling, said Mr. Furlong’s criticism of Ms. Robinson’s work and suggestion she had a vendetta against him was covered by the defence of qualified privilege. The judge said she was satisfied Mr. Furlong was not motivated by malice and Ms. Robinson’s work constituted an attack on Mr. Furlong’s “character, conduct and credibility.”
Friday’s dismissal appears to bring an end to a chapter that has enveloped Mr. Furlong’s life and crushed his once-lucrative public-speaking career. The lawsuit was the fourth filed against him – three former students earlier alleged sexual abuse, though two of the cases were dismissed and one was dropped. Mr. Furlong was not charged criminally and vehemently denied wrongdoing throughout.
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