Author Wins Defamation Lawsuit Against University Professor Who Called Book ‘Racist Garbage’

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Chandra Philip

6/22/2025|Updated: 6/22/2025

An author has won her defamation lawsuit against a University of Regina professor who called her book “racist garbage.” Candis McLean had filed her lawsuit with a Saskatchewan court eight years ago.

McLean published a book in 2016 called “When Police Become Prey: The Cold, Hard Facts of Neil Stonechild’s Freezing Death.” The book challenged the findings of an inquiry into the death of Stonechild, an indigenous teen who died in Saskatoon in 1990 at age 17 on the night he was taken into police custody. Two Saskatoon police officers lost their jobs as a result of the inquiry. However, McLean’s book says they were innocent of wrongdoing in the teen’s death.

The author had scheduled a book tour in Saskatchewan in 2016.

However, an organization called Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism started a campaign opposed to the book and the book signings. University of Regina professor Michelle Stewart participated in the campaign, which included contacting the book signing venues and asking them to cancel the events. She also made a Facebook post calling the book “racist garbage.”

Stewart is a professor at the university’s department of gender, religion, and cultural studies.

McLean filed a defamation lawsuit against Stewart in 2017. The Saskatchewan Court of King’s Bench released its decision on June 13, saying that some of Stewart’s actions did amount to defamation and that it also induced a breach of contract by calling venues and urging them to cancel McLean’s events.

Justice Neil Robertson said the social media comment could have implied that McLean was racist as “an author is closely tied to their work.”

Robertson also noted that Stewart had not read the book before she made the post. He said he had read it and did not find it racist.

He ruled that the word “racist” attacked McLean’s character while the term “garbage” demeaned her intellectual and professional ability as a writer.

Robertson said the comment could be viewed as “cancel culture,” which looks to shut down discussion via attacks directed against the person rather than debate “disagreeable ideas or views.”

Robertson also noted that Stewart had not pointed to anything in the book that would support her claims against the book.

Defence

Stewart, for her part, said the term “racist garbage” was about the book, not the author. She argued that the defence of fair comment should apply as her post was about a controversial subject of public interest.

The professor said she had “reviewed parts” of the book and “understood its premise” before making the post, according to the judgment document.

An apology was offered, but rejected, she told the court.

Stewart also argued that there was no evidence of contracts with the venues that cancelled, so the accusation does not apply.

Robertson disagreed, saying that the bookings, which had been confirmed in writing, equated a contract.

The Epoch Times attempted to contact Stewart but did not hear back by publication time.

McLean had asked the court for $165,642 in damages. Robertson ordered Stewart to pay $6,450.

Stonechild Case

McLean’s book reviewed an incident that occurred in November 1990. Justice Robertson noted that Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) constables Brad Senger and Lawrence Hartwig had been on patrol duty together on the night of Nov. 24–25 of that year. Just before midnight, Senger queried Stonechild’s name on the Canadian Police Information Centre.

Stonechild’s body was found in a field in Saskatoon on Nov. 29, 1990. The cause of death of the 17-year-old was determined to be “exposure with no foul play.”

The provincial government appointed a justice from the Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan to conduct an inquiry into the teen’s death in 2003.

The final report, issued in September 2004, said the two constables had taken Stonechild into custody on Nov. 24–25, 1990, and found that the SPS had not conducted a proper investigation into Stonechild’s death.

Subsequently, the constables were dismissed from the force in November 2004 for neglect of duty. SPS said that the two had failed to arrest Stonechild on an outstanding warrant and then keep him in custody and bring him to the police station for booking, and that they also failed to properly record their interaction with him in their notebooks and reports.

The officers appealed their dismissal. However, their firings were upheld.

Source: Epoch Times