The British Columbia Library Association has written an open letter asking CanWest Global Communications Group to withdraw its lawsuit against Mordecai Briemberg and others.

In December 2007, CanWest filed a statement of claim against Briemberg, a retired Douglas College instructor and Rhodes scholar, Vancouver print shop Horizon Publications Ltd., its president, Garth Leddy, and six unknown Jane and John Does.

The lawsuit is in relation to a parody of the Vancouver Sun that was distributed throughout the Lower Mainland. The fake publication poked fun at what the authors perceived as a pro-Israel bias in CanWest media outlets, which in addition to the Sun, include the National Post, he Province, Victoria’s Times-Colonist, several community newspapers, and Global Television.

Read the BCLA’s open letter to Leonard Asper, president of CanWest.

Read the BCLA’s resolution calling for CanWest to withdraw its legal suit.

The BCLA is the latest group to join a growing number of organizations that have publicly challenged CanWest’s lawsuit.

Earleir this month, Frank magazine reprinted the satirical edition of the Sun. And in April, Briemberg was awarded the YMCA Power of Peace Award. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has also called on CanWest to drop its suit.

» View the full front page of the Vancouver Sun parody. [PDF]

» Read the parody’s full text (four pages). [PDF]