Canadiani libel law

[Stephen Esrati]

To the editor of the New York Times:
It is not just the United Kingdom that has a libel law ("A Fight to
Protect Americans From British Libel Law" May 25) that puts the burden
of proof on the writer instead of the alleged victim; it also happens in
Canada.
I was victimized by Canadian Literary Associates, an Edmonton "literary
agency" that advertised in the New York Times and countless American
Yellow Pages. It offered to represent me in selling my novel to
"publishers all over the English-speaking world." CLA "sold" my book to
Commonwealth Publications and I cried for joy. Later, when I sued, I
learned that CLA owned Commonwealth and that the "sale" was bogus. I was
immediately hit by a $500,000 counter-suit alleging defamation and libel.
No Canadian newspaper would touch the story because I was "libeling" CLA
and Commonwealth. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. scheduled a story
about it, but ended up saying nothing. CLA's hometown paper in Edmonton
would not assign the story to its police beat but gave it to a
free-lance journalist who made me sound like some depraved American
trying to cheat some poor Canadian criminal.
The vaunted Royal Canadian Mounted Police dismissed my charges as a
"contractual dispute" and allowed the perpetrators to get away with it.
I eventually won the lawsuit, but the accused declared bankruptcy still
owing me money.