2022 October 14

Poulie v. Johnston, 2022 ONSC 5186

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice sentenced the Defendant to a period of imprisonment of four months, without any remission.  This sentence was to be served immediately after a sentence imposed in Paramount v. Kevin J. Johnston.  If the Defendant did not surrender himself to police or the court to serve his sentence in the Paramount case, then a warrant for his arrest was to be issued and specifically brought to the attention of the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency.

In this lawsuit, the Defendant regularly breached three court orders requiring him to remove all defamatory broadcasts, articles and other content from everywhere (including any broadcast about this lawsuit) and prohibited the Defendant from broadcasting further defamatory materials about the Plaintiffs or any issue involved in this action.

The court noted that “one of the key principles that should be applied in a sentence, even for civil contempt, is deterrence.”  “Even after the contempt Orders were made, [the Defendant] continued to deliberately flout the Orders by continuing to make defamatory statements about the Plaintiffs.”  “[The Defendant] demonstrated a history of deliberately delaying this proceeding in order to avoid the consequences of his contempt.”  “[The Defendant’ has, on numerous occasions, avoided or minimized his responsibility for the breach of Court orders.  He has done this, in part, by refusing to attend at Court proceedings.”  “When this history is reviewed, it demonstrates a continuing and deliberate attempt to flout the authority of the Court.”  “The only penalty that will make it clear to [the Defendant] that there are consequences to his conduct is a period of incarceration.”