Enterprise Canada Settles Lawsuit With Freedom Convoy Lawyer Over Nazi Flag Allegations

Security escort Freedom Corp. counsel Brendan Miller out of the hearing room at the Public Order Emergency Commission hearing in Ottawa on Nov. 22, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Months after Freedom Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller accused an Enterprise Canada employee of carrying a Nazi flag at the Ottawa trucker protest, the company announced it has resolved its defamation suit against Miller over the comments.

During the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC)—which was tasked with determining the validity of the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the Freedom Convoy—Miller had claimed that Enterprise Canada executive Brian Fox had carried a Nazi flag on the first days of the protest in order to discredit the convoy.

Last December, the strategic communications firm and Fox filed a statement of claim against Miller for what it described as defamatory statements. On March 31, Enterprise announced in a statement that the litigation had been resolved, saying, “the parties have agreed to accept the ruling of Commissioner Rouleau as conclusive and final and put the issue behind them.”

The firm said the statement was a joint declaration by Enterprise, Fox, and Miller.

Allegations

During the latter half of the POEC, Miller had suggested that the Nazi and Confederate flags seen at the protest were part of an operation to discredit the convoy. Miller said there was “evidence and grounds to suspect that the flags, and purported protesters using them, were not protesters with the convoy at all, but provocateurs.”

As evidence for his claim, Miller produced an affidavit from convoy protestor Shawn Folkes, who claimed to have met Fox at the Ottawa protest on Jan. 29, 2022. Folkes said he identified Fox as the flag carrier after viewing photographs of him online.

During the POEC, Miller also attempted to compel Fox to testify about the presence of Nazi and Confederate flags at the protest, but this application was ultimately denied by Justice Paul Rouleau, chair of the commission, who said Miller’s allegations had “little foundation in evidence.”

In the POEC’s final report, Commissioner Paul Rouleau also wrote that when Miller raised the claims with various members of the government and bureaucracy, those “examinations elicited no evidence to support the theory.”

Enterprise Canada responded to Miller’s allegations in a cease and desist letter, where they argued that Fox had not been in Ottawa during the time of the protest. It added that Fox is a longtime donor to the Conservatives and a supporter of Pierre Poilievre, saying that the “implication that Mr. Fox colluded with the [Liberal] government to discredit protestors has absolutely no basis in fact.”

Enterprise President Jason Lietaer said that Miller’s allegations led to Fox receiving hate mail and death threats. Fox and Enterprise eventually served Miller with a defamation notice and later sued him for $2 million.

Miller did not respond to the Epoch Times’ request for comment by publication time.