Former ICNSS employees apologize, pay damages

In the autumn of 2008, I filed a lawsuit, along with my partner, Mississauga-Streetsville Member of Provincial Parliament Bob Delaney against three former members of Inter-Cultural Neighbourhood Social Services: Abla Ali of Mississauga; Tania Amaral of Etobicoke; and Raouf Barakat of Mississauga. The three had written an anonymous letter on October 1, 2007, just before the Ontario election held on October 10, 2007. The letter made serious allegations against Mr. Delaney and me. During the court proceedings, the defendants failed to substantiate a single allegation, and admitted that none had any basis or truth whatsoever. The anonymous letter, and its false allegations were sent to all the major funders of ICNSS, beginning a process that ultimately led to the withdrawal of funds from ICNSS, and its subsequent closure.

Mr. Delaney and I were successful in our civil action. Ali, Amaral and Barakat issued a public letter of apology, and paid us substantial financial compensation for the harm they had caused. It did not bring back ICNSS, nor did it restore the careers of the 80 people who served some 75,000 clients each year in the four locations in Brampton and Mississauga served by ICNSS. But it did clear our reputations from this cowardly attack.