San Group has filed a second legal action against the City of Port Alberni claiming it was defamed by the municipality and its representatives regarding treatment of a group of temporary foreign workers.
The notice of civil claim cites municipal press releases and comments from Mayor Sherie Minions and chief administrative officer Mike Fox to various news media which published or broadcast comments.
This claim from San Group and its related companies was filed Monday in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Relief sought includes general damages for defamation and special, aggravated and punitive damages.
The case relates to a group of Vietnamese workers who arrived in B.C. to work at the San Group’s remanufacturing plant near Port Alberni’s waterfront. Some workers lived in housing provided by San Group outside of the city.
Fox said Monday afternoon that the municipality had just ended a council meeting when it learned of the second filing. It had not had time to read the claim and could not comment.
San Group’s first lawsuit against the city was filed after it said a clandestine overnight search by local officials of its remanufacturing plant was carried out in early July and the actions harmed its reputation.
The search took place following false claims that the forestry company was mistreating foreign workers by housing them in substandard accommodation, the company said.
San Group operates remanufacturing facilities in Port Alberni and Langley, as well as four sawmills in B.C. It said in the most recent claim that it is involved in the direct marketing, wholesale and retail sales of lumber in North America and globally and conducts sales in more than 28 countries.
It was not required under the federal worker program to provide accommodation for the Vietnamese workers because of their rate of pay. Accommodation was not part of the employment contract, the company said.
San Group did provide accommodation for some of those workers at its Hector Road mill site because of the shortage of housing in the Alberni Valley. This consisted of a modular home and mini homes built by the company.
It said it had used the same accommodation for its workers in 2018 to 2020 when the remanufacturing plant was built and two sawmills were modernized.
Because the Vietnamese workers generally did not have B.C. drivers’ licences, the company provided a vehicle to take them to and from work a plant at 5005 Nuupt’s Ikapis Way in the city, the civil claim said.
San Group takes issue with several comments from the city involving the accommodation at Hector Road and said municipal allegations were not true.
As a result of the statements from the municipality, the company said its fibre supply has been endangered because suppliers are considering whether to continue to do business with San Group.
It said its environmental certification of products destined for European Union markets is at risk for the same reason.
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