Victoria-based criminal defense lawyer James Heller is suing the Law Society of B.C. for libel, claiming it promoted false and defamatory statements made against him when he proposed changes to mandatory Indigenous training coursework last fall.
“In addition to libel, the defendant’s conduct also constitutes negligence and intentional infliction of mental and/or emotional distress,” states the civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Feb.4.
The society has yet to respond to Heller’s allegations, which remain unproven in the court.
Heller’s claim outlines what led to the libel lawsuit.
Last spring Heller said he observed what he describes as a factual inaccuracy in the coursework — that there was definitively an unmarked burial site containing the bodies of 215 children on the former Kamloops Indian Residential School grounds.
Heller said that was not the case, and that the ground-penetrating radar discovery has only shown anomalies, which could potentially be bodies, or not.
In July 2024, concerned the coursework was inaccurate and misleading the bar, Heller wrote to the society’s course providers to suggest an amendment reflecting that there remains only the potential for such an unmarked grave.
“The truth is that we do not know if in fact there are any bodies buried there at all, let alone those of 215 children. It would be great if the authorities and experts and RCMP would finally do the necessary work, likely some kind of excavation, to ascertain the truth of the matter but, until that time, it’s inaccurate and misleading to suggest that there’s been any such ‘discovery,’” stated Helller, according to the claim.
Heller said that the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc Nation clarified in May 2024 that the radar scans only showed “anomalies” and not “remains.”
After claiming to have been ignored by the society and course providers, Heller submitted a resolution to edit the language at the September 2024 annual general meeting.
Thereafter the BC First Nations Justice Council (BCFNJC) issued a statement calling Heller’s resolution racist and a denial of the Indigenous genocide.
“Despite knowing that the BCFNJC statement contained damaging false and defamatory imputations, the defendant [Law Society of B.C.] republished it to the world on September 10, 2024 by providing a link in an online press release,” the claim contends.
Heller called the society’s pre-emptive statements on the resolution “unethical” and said he felt betrayed the society “collaborated with an activist group in advancing such a dishonest and damaging attack.”
At the September 2024 meeting, BIV reported the final vote saw 1,683 society members (lawyers) oppose the resolution and 1,499 voted in favour of it, with 590 abstaining.
Lawyers opposing the resolution called it racist; others said it was highly selective.
This was not Heller's first foray into questioning certain directions the society had chosen. In 2021 he called for greater debate on new requirement that lawyers state their gender pronouns at the beginning of court proceedings in B.C.
MLA sticks up for Heller while another makes accusations of residential school denialism
Heller’s lawsuit has since caused waves at the BC Legislature.
After the claim was first reported by the National Post, Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie posted Feb. 22 on social media platform X.com: “The number of confirmed child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero. Zero. No one should be afraid of the truth. Not lawyers, their governing bodies, or anyone else.”
Brodie is the BC Conservative opposition critic for the attorney general.
The message appeared to cause division in the party as Á'a:líya Warbus, the Indigenous MLA for Chilliwack-Cultus Lake, posted on X.com: “Inform yourself, get the latest facts, research and talk to survivors. Questioning the narratives of people who lived and survived these atrocities, is nothing but harmful and taking us backward in reconciliation.”
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad reportedly asked Brodie to remove the message, however it remained up as of March 6.
On March 4 Brodie published a letter to the society, made out to CEO Gigi Chen-Kuo, which “urges” the society to issue an apology to Heller and edit the coursework.
Brodie also published a letter to B.C. Attorney General Nikki Sharma, also urging Sharma to acknowledge no bodies had been discovered at the site.
This latest controversy was not the first related to First Nations for Brodie, a rookie MLA.
During her campaign, Brodie claimed First Nations bands need to better support their members in the Downtown Eastside and “don't just make Vancouver your dumping ground. Come and take your citizens.”
BIV did not receive a response from Brodie for an opportunity to comment further on the matter.
