Saturday, September 30, 2006

A racist are we?

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Now let's see if we understand this ....."

You're really irresponsible for printing this crap, you're showing yourself to be a racist never mind the MMF.... Isn't it enough you're already being sued for untrue lies you printed on the other site, do you have to go and publish more defaming comments?

Learn, buddy, learn!
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Dear Anonymous:

Thank you for writing. A few considerations:

(1) The follwoing was posted during May, 2003 while I was Webmaster of www.CyberSmokeSignals.com. It's author(s) had a Message Board link embedded in a popular British Columbia Metis specific website (www.angelfire.com/bc/bcmetisforum/) advertising itself under the banner, Welcome to the Manitoba Metis Message Board. Improving communication for the Metis Nation. It didn't last very long only a month or two before it suddenly disappeared unannounced from the internet. We downloaded all their postings - for example:

Name: metisman2003
Subject: CYBERSMOKESIGNALS B.S.
Mon, May 12 2003 at 11:28 am

Message:

"Well again we have Mr. Clare (hey just forget I'm white) Pieuk details about the same old crap.

WHAAAAA ... I was fired from LRCC....whaaaaa...... because I didn't agree with what the board of directors(his bosses) told me to do!!!!!

WHAAAAA....I still have 3 years under the statute of limitations to sue.....whaaaaa no lawyer will take my case...etc etc. etc.

What Clare (hey just ignore that im white)Pieuk likes to preach at people are certain values and ethics but he himself isnt subject to them. Like his confidentiality and such but when on his website he openly promotes others to ignore it and leak him documents so he can post them.

A lot of people are thanking God that he is no longer on the LRCC payroll.....While he was there ALL of the loans he approved went to collections...well you know...good record Clare(Hey im the white guy).

And now this boob teaches about loans and the like...well you know the olding saying those that cant do.....teach."

Lets closely examine metisman2003's allegations:

(a) "WHAAAAA ... I was fired from LRCC.....whaaaaa...... because I didn't agree with what the board of directors(his bosses) told me to do!!!!!"

Then Louis Riel Capital Corporation Chairman Alphonse Ducharme and Director Leo Campbell (both also summarily dismissed) had the same concerns. At the time, three MMF Vice-Presidents sat on the seven member Board. We were uncomfortable vis-a-vis certain expenditures which had been approved coupled with a decision to re-locate the corporate offices from Burrows Avenue to Federation Headquarters (had previously made these known to Aboriginal Business Canada LRCC's founder and funder). Shortly after Messrs. Ducharme and Campbell were removed, a hastily convened meeting (February 28, 2003) presided over by newly elected Chairman Harold Johnson took place at which time he asked for my resignation - I refused so he fired me

Why I declined?

(i) Felt I had always represented the Corporation's best interests

(ii) Chairman Johnston offered no reason(s) for his resignation request. Upon refusal and after a pregnant pause only then did Director (former The Pas MMF Vice-President) Muriel Parker finally attempt to provide an explanation. What a JOKE - beyond pathetic!

(iii) Importantly, resigning would have negated the possibility of a wrongful dismissal lawsuit - nice try though!

(b) "WHAAAAA..... I still have 3 years under the statute of limitations to sue.....no lawyer will take my case...etc etc. etc"

Sorry wrong on all counts! In Canada the Statute of Limitations for wrongful dismissal litigation is 6 years not 3. For example, in my case it expired February 28, 2006. At the time, Mr. Reeh Taylor, Q.C. (founder, Taylor McCaffrey LLP) referred me to one of Winnipeg's foremost labour lawyers Mr. Garth Smorang, Q.C. (Deeley Fabbri Sellen - subsequently accepted a partnership with Myers Weinberg LLP) who agreed to accept my case on a contingency (i.e. the attorney receives approximately one-third of the eventual damage award ordered by the Courts) plus a small upfront retainer to cover out-of-pocket expenses.

It was decided not to proceed with the litigation because of the economics. Although Mr. Smorang advised we had a good case and he was confident of a favourable judgment, he also pointed out the amount of a damage award is, to a large degree, determined by length of service. I had only been at LRCC for about 10 months. On that basis, it didn't make sense to proceed.

(c) "What Clare (hey just ignore that im white) Pieuk likes to preach at people are certain values and ethics but he himself isnt subject to them. Like his confidentiality and such but when on his website he openly promotes others to ignore it and lead him documents so he can post them."


No one twisted the arms of anonymous sources to come forward with information. When viewed in its entirety, deep concerns were raised about possible, serious corporate malfeasance in the management of public money. Therefore, copies were subsequently turned over to The Auditor Generals of Manitoba and Canada

(d) "A lot of people are thanking God that he is no longer on the LRCC payroll... While he was there ALL of the loans he approved went to collections... well you know...good record Clare (Hey im the white guy)."

Upon my arrival at LRCC there was a significant backlog of in arrears loans which Chairman Ducharme, one of the Directors and I focused upon. My lending authority was $5,000 - any applications for amounts from 6,000- $25,000 were reviewed, approved or rejected by an In-House Loans Committee consisting of the Chairman, any Director and the General Manager. Beyond this threshold required a meeting of the full Board.

The Chairman, Board of Directors, General Manager and staff are required to sign an Oath of Confidentiality otherwise I could go into much greater detail about specific loans. The only way this would happen is if I were called upon to testify in open court or before a Public Committee/Inquiry with the power of subpoena.

"ALL of the loans he approved went to collections..."

Again patently false! Unfortunately, because of the aforementioned Confidentiality Oath I cannot discuss the loans in detail otherwise I would.

(e) "And now this boob teaches about loans and the like... well you know the olding saying those that cant..... teach."

Yes, I have lectured at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Business Administration, as well as, Red River College's Business Studies Program. No I don't teach about loans.

(2) "You're really irresponsible for printing this crap, you're showing yourself to be a racist never mind the MMF."

Sorry, simply re-producing an article already posted on the internet does not constitute racism.

(3) "Isn't it enough you're already being sued for untrue lies you printed on the other site, do you have to go and publish more defaming comments?"

Please consider the following:

(i) There are two other Co-Defendants in this case both Metis

(ii) "..... for untrue lies you printed on the other site ....."

The comments 20 of 23 MMF Provincial Board of Directors allege are defamatory were written by Winnipeg Metis lawyer Lionel R. Chartrand who, at the time, was acting as www.CyberSmokeSignals.com's General Legal Counsel. He also approved their publication. As the legal community likes to say, "We've got lots of "Black Letter" (his e-mail) which clearly establishes culpability beyond a reasonable preponderance of doubt which is the standard that has to be met. In Canada defamation cases are tried before a Judge and Jury so there are 13 people to convince. Thankfully they decide not you whether defamation has occurred. And remember we are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Thank you for writing Anonymous. Hopefully, you'll contact us again this time with more informed comments. One last point - we know who you are metisman2003.

So please remind us once again, who's the racist?

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good for you. It took a lot of guts to say this, but I'm glad you realized it had to be said. A lot of your critics (or, should I use the singular because anyone in the know in the Metis community knows who the one critic really is) like to carp on about Louis Riel knowing full well your hands are tied by the confidentiality agreement.

9:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who ever wrote about Clare being a racist should go back and try graduating from Grade 5. His grammar is beyond terrible. He should be embarrassed. What the hell is an “untrue lie?”

2:30 PM  

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