4,000+ visitors in the past 3 days. Thank you Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, Colin Perkel
What’s that old saying about there being no bad publicity?
by Donald Best, former Sergeant, Detective, Toronto Police
Now I truly understand why (according to a friendly TorStar reporter) the Toronto Star has had an editor’s ‘kill’ on my story for the past three years – to the point of removing my reader comments from their website even when my comments had nothing to do with my legal case or personal situation.
The Toronto Star made ‘Donald Best’ and ‘DonaldBest.CA’ disappear from their website.
Could it be libel chill that caused the newspaper to censor my story, name and website? Could it have something to do with the fact that two of the senior lawyers I sued regularly act for the Toronto Star and other mainstream news media, even representing them all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada on occasion?
Big Media won’t allow their journalists to cover my story
In the last few years I’ve been interviewed by many Canadian journalists from such outlets as the Toronto Star, National Post, Sun Media, Globe and Mail and CTV.
It usually starts in the same manner. The reporter stumbles across my website, listens to the voice recordings, downloads the transcripts and other evidence and then contacts me almost breathless for an interview. Their instinct tells them there are several good stories here, and their healthy professional skepticism is soon satisfied by the quality of my evidence.
(It’s tough to dispute forensically-certified voice recordings of me telling lawyers that I did NOT receive a certain court order – and then read the same lawyers’ sworn testimony and transcripts falsely telling the judge that during the same telephone call I ‘confessed’ that I HAD received the court order. What the lawyers did is called ‘perjury’ and ‘obstruct justice’.)
Each time I politely answer the journalist’s questions, provide them with the backup evidence they request, and each time nothing appears in the news media. A very few journalists contacted me afterwards and in a forthright manner explained in frustration and perhaps some shame what I already knew was happening.
The mainstream news media has censored my story since 2013, yet four days ago on June 21, 2016, only hours after the Appeal Court of Ontario released a decision that was critical of my lawyer Paul Slansky, the Toronto Star, National Post and Toronto Sun all ran the same one-sided, incomplete and inaccurate story about my lawyer and my case.
Award-winning senior Canadian Press Journalist Colin Perkel
Did the powers that be decide that the award-winning Canadian Press reporter Colin Perkel should write a story and it would be published nationwide? Or, did Mr. Perkel somehow trip across an Appeal Court release within a few hours, decide to cover the story himself and then convince his editors to publish?
Mr. Perkel never contacted me. His story contains inaccuracies, no background and certainly no reference to DonaldBest.CA where Canadians can listen to voice recordings, examine the evidence and decide what happened for themselves.
But as a result of Mr. Perkel’s article, in the last three days over four thousand Canadians used Google and other searches to seek out my side of the story. They came to my website, listened to the recordings, downloaded court transcripts and spent considerable time reading my articles. 19.8% of the visitors stayed for over an hour. An additional 10.1% stayed for 20 minutes. I am advised by an internet expert that these are incredible statistics for visitor retention times.
I received the most wonderful and uplifting notes of support and encouragement from all over Canada. Dozens of my readers went further and told of their own situations involving unethical lawyers using every trick in the book to block access to justice or to win by any means. (I’ll be writing back to each of you although it may take a few days to complete the list.)
As I’ve said before, there are tens of thousands of us. We are telling our stories, educating, organizing and advocating for major reforms to the justice system and the legal profession.
So far Colin Perkel has told only one side, and at that only a very narrow slice of a story that should concern every Canadian who values our justice system and the rule of law.
Mr. Perkel is one of Canada’s senior journalists. He has written and broadcast thousands of stories in the last 30 years. You’ve undoubtedly read his work. He did three tours in Afghanistan and you have to respect a journalist who would put his life on the line to bring the news to his fellow Canadians.
It is likely that by now Mr. Perkel has visited my website, listened to the recordings and read much of the evidence. He knows he’s only told a sliver of the stories that are here, and it would be unlike a journalist of his stature to not dig further.
If Mr. Perkel contacts me, I’ll be pleased to speak on the record. Whether the mainstream news media would publish his story – even written by Mr. Perkel – is another matter.
Donald Best
Whitewashing no more I do not think the lawyers have embarked on a lawsuit to sue Mr. Best. I know I thought the same thing when I read one of the posts but then realized that they never tried but they could but then again we could all sue as well for a judicial system that is so corrupted with lying lawyers and cover up and crooked cops etc. In my opinion Mr. Schabas works on many human rights issues so he should be the least likely to feel slighted by a lawsuit and Mr. Best right to defend himself and tell his story and share with the world his evidence.
Great point about the newspapers and the lawyers that defend them and their right to freedom of speech but we have obvious lawyers on here trying to say Mr. Best has made defamatory remarks. To what were you thinking Mr. Best the fact that Mr. Best sued Paul Schabas does not give the right to a newspaper to be biased because people are paying to read the newspaper so we expect unbiased writing not a slanted view. Perhaps if we wrote about the newspaper they wouldnt like it but then again constructive criticism can be helpful and people have a right to their opinion.
Cover up is what angers people the most. To err is human but to cover up is the problem.
They have a right to sue but their lawsuit would be without merit as there is far too damning evidence against them.
Mr, Schabas with such a fine record as his representing newspapers with respect to libel matters should know that this website of DONALD BEST falls under the same guidelines as newspapers with respect to exposing a story with hard evidence therefore he should have counseled his fellow legal buddies not to embark on a court action to sue Mr. Best and this website.
How quickly the shoe falls on the other foot when it falls too close to home with a story of lawyer corruption. Does that not amaze you about lawyers and about money–they will defend one client with respect to freedom of rights and speech but counsel another client to sue someone for doing exactly that. It actually is rather hypocritical when you think about it.
I believe we have put Mr. Schabas in a rather tight box using his own legal record of representing a newspaper to uphold their constitutional right of freedom of speech but then siding with these lawyers who went to court to have the right to sue Donald Best. I would believe that this conflict is what also stops those lawyers from actually suing Donald Best and his website. The evidence is far too damning, cant be whitewashed and falls under the freedom of speech and right of Canadians to know what is being done in our judicial system.
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Best sued Paul Schabas of Blakes who is the new treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Toronto Star lawyer. Schabas also has acted/acts for Globe & Mail, Canadian Newspapers Association, Southam (then became Hollinger National Post), CBC, Sun Media Corporation, Ottawa Citizen.
“Schabas frequently acts for Canada’s major media on defamation and free expression matters and has been counsel on many significant Charter and human rights cases. Paul has appeared many times before the Supreme Court of Canada including, recently, as lead counsel in Grant v. Torstar (responsible communication in the public interest), in Toronto Star v. Canada (mandatory publication bans) and Breeden v. Black (libel tourism). Past President of the Canadian Media Lawyers Association. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law where he teaches a course on media and defamation law,”
Best, you sued Paul Schabas and expect a newspapers to write about it in a balanced manner ? That will never happen. When circumstances were right they did their hit piece on you and your lawyer. Welcom to the real world Mr. Best.
It is funny how they try to work this against you and it actual gets you more coverage just the thing they have being trying to stop. Keep up the great work