Famous Cases.

• Date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Bowal, Peter

Confidentiality Clauses: the Jan Wong Case

Introduction

... I can't disclose the amount of money I received I'd just been paid a pile of money to go away... Two weeks later a big fat check landed in my account. Even with a vastly swollen bank account... Almost all lawsuits are settled or abandoned. Only about 5% go through to a full trial. Nearly all settlements where lawyers are involved have a confidentiality clause in the settlement agreement. If there is a payout of money, generally no one can talk about it. Most of the time, the parties all agree to these clauses in order to get the cash and end the legal hostilities.

This column describes a recent case that demonstrates the seriousness of these confidentiality clauses.

Provocation of Journalist Jan Wong

In September 2006, Jan Wong's employer, the Globe and Mail, instructed her to write an article on the assassination of a student at Dawson College in Montreal. In her article, "Get Under the Desk", Wong expressed a view that the shooting, along with two previous school shootings in Quebec, could be linked to the alienation of non-native Quebecois in the province. After publication, public outcry challenged the suggestion that Quebec society was obsessed with "racial purity".

Wong became the target of hate mail, racial comments and even death threats. Many politicians and Quebec journalists denounced the article and demanded an apology. Wong refused to retract...