Yukon government files defence in defamation case over alleged confrontations at Vancouver mining conference

The Yukon government is defending itself against a lawsuit from a mining company, arguing statements allegedly made by the government's former chief mine engineer at a 2020 conference weren't defamatory because they were true.

Golden Predator Mining Corporation and then-CEO Janet Lee-Sheriff sued the government and now-former chief mine engineer Paul Christman in May 2021 over alleged confrontations that took place during the 2020 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference.

The statement of claim alleges Christman interrupted a presentation by Lee-Sheriff and then confronted her and her husband at Golden Predator's booth over the validity of the company's water licence for its Brewery Creek mine, in the Dawson City area. 

The confrontations, the lawsuit claims, happened in front of other conference attendees and damaged both Golden Predator and Lee-Sheriff's reputations. 

Golden Predator has since been acquired by Sabre Gold Mines Corp. Lee-Sheriff now serves as an advisor for the company.

In its statement of defence, filed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Feb. 16, the Yukon government argued that any of Christman's alleged statements, if they were actually said, "were not capable of being defamatory, and were not in fact defamatory, as alleged or at all."

Alternatively, the statement continues, Christman "spoke in good faith and without malice on an occasion of qualified privilege," that his statements were "true in substance and in facts," and "constituted comment on a matter of public interest, based on fact, which a person could honestly express on the proven facts." 

Mine considered closed under water licence, government says

In a section titled "additional facts," the Yukon government's statement of defence says that Golden Predator was given a water licence for Brewery Creek on April 23, 2012, and a quartz mining licence on Oct. 5 that same year. 

Both licences were set to expire on Dec. 31, 2021. 

One of the conditions of the water licence, according to the document, was that any temporary closure of the mine lasting longer than two years would, for the purpose of the licence, be considered a permanent closure. 

The Brewery Creek mine was closed for longer than two years between the issuing of the water licence and the 2020 Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, the statement of defence says. As well, as of the day of the alleged confrontations, neither the water nor quartz mining licences had been extended, nor had Golden Predator applied for new ones. 

Golden Predator knew that, the statement of defence continues; in August 2019, the company had asked the Yukon government for a five-year extension of its licences and was informed it had to follow processes laid out in territorial legislation. 

The government, in June and September of that year, had also told Golden Predator it was required to submit a detailed work plan and schedule for any proposed development and production at Brewery Creek, as well as a reclamation and closure plan. 

In October 2019, according to the statement of defence, an inspector's direction issued under the territory Quartz Mining Act required Golden Predator to stop removing vegetation and earth and placing cover material at Brewery Creek because the work was not authorised under its quartz mining licence. 

Golden Predator had not submitted any plans nor applications for reopening the Brewery Creek mine, to the Yukon government or any regulatory bodies, by the time the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference began in January 2020, the statement of defence says. 

Despite that, Lee-Sheriff, throughout her presentation at the conference, made a number of references to Golden Predator being "licensed" or holding valid licences for restarting mining at Brewery Creek, according to the statement of defence. However, she made no reference to the fact that the licences held by Golden Predator were expiring in December 2021, nor the regulatory processes the company needed to complete to obtain new ones.

Christman filed his own statement of defence against the lawsuit in January, accusing Golden Predator of attempting to silence valid criticism.

The lawsuit has not been tested at trial. 

Christman previously sued the Yukon government's Department of Energy, Mines and Resources, alleging he was professionally punished for raising concerns about the Golden Predator file.The case was dismissed with the consent of all parties.