Sarnia City and Lambton County Councillor Bill Dennis has been ordered to pay $33,000 in damages to the executive director of the Sarnia-Lambton Children's Aid Society (CAS).
Dawn Flegel sued Dennis for $100,000 in August of 2024 for what she called "defamatory comments that impacted our service delivery, employees, and the children and families we support."
In an email to Sarnia News Today Dennis, who is running for Sarnia Mayor this fall, said he's strongly considering appealing the decision.
"I strongly believe that it was/is important to bring attention to the hiring practices of The Sarnia Lambton Children's Aid Society," he said. "They don’t affect me at my age. But they do affect all of our children and grandchildren in Sarnia-Lambton. This cannot become the norm. Hiring’s (sic) should be based on merit."
Flegel made a formal complaint on May 21, 2024 to Integrity Commissioner Benjamin Drory and the Human Rights Commission after Dennis criticized a recruitment ad, posted to the agency’s Facebook page, on his social media account.
The job posting encouraged those who identified as Indigenous, Black, racialized, 2SLGBTQ+, and bilingual-French speaking to apply.
"This type of discrimination disgusts me," Dennis wrote on his Facebook page. "When I’m mayor, all city hiring will be based on merit. And we will never grant money to organizations like this who practice discriminatory hiring practices. I will restore common sense and kick woke (sic) out of city hall."
Dennis went on to call Flegel a "grifter" who purchased a luxury mansion on the St. Clair Parkway in Corunna.
"Clearly lots of money to be made in the race hustling/victim business. Just another far left wacko elitist. And a group of bat shit crazy lunatics that try to destroy you if you don’t agree with them. Bring it on," said Dennis.
At the time, Dennis was also handed a two day suspension without pay.
In an email from Flegel's lawyer, Jacob Damstra of Lerners, he said they're pleased the court has "vindicated Flegel’s reputation."
"The court found that the statements published by Bill Dennis on his Facebook page about her were defamatory. The court found that his comments went beyond political debate and made serious personal allegations of dishonesty, profiteering, and unfitness for her office against Ms. Flegel personally," said Damstra. "The court carefully considered and rejected the numerous defences advanced by Mr. Dennis and awarded compensatory damages as well as aggravated damages payable by Mr. Dennis to Ms. Flegel for the harm to her reputation, the heightened injury to her dignity, security, and peace of mind, and for his misuse of the litigation process as an instrument of intimidation.
Damstra said the court also dismissed Dennis’ counterclaim against Flegel in its entirety.
"The counterclaim alleged breach of rights, malicious prosecution, misfeasance in public office, and reprisal under the Human Rights Code. It sought a declaration that Ms. Flegel is a vexatious litigant and damages of $375,000," he said. "The court concluded that there was no evidence in support of any of the allegations in the counterclaim."
According to Justice Martha Cook, the counterclaim was “not bona fide litigation: it is an instrument of intimidation and financial pressure”, it “was motivated by an unjustifiable intention to injure Ms. Flegel” and it was "improper use of the litigation process as an instrument of intimidation."
