Furlong's Accusations Devastating: Journalist

Ladysmith Chronicle
June 16, 2015

http://www.ladysmithchronicle.com/national/vancouver/307653991.html

Canadian Olympic chief John Furlong is facing a defamation lawsuit from freelance journalist Laura Robinson, who penned a 2012 'Georgia Strait' article, alleging that Furlong had physically and mentally abused aboriginal students while teaching in Burns Lake, in the 60s and 70s.— Image Credit: File Photo

A journalist who is suing former Vancouver Olympic CEO John Furlong for defamation says she was devastated and shocked after he implied she tried to extort money from him.

Laura Robinson has told a civil trial that she was deeply disturbed over remarks made by Furlong after her article was published in the Georgia Straight newspaper about his past in Burns Lake, B.C.

The story included allegations by former aboriginal students that Furlong had beaten them and used racial taunts while working as a physical education teacher in the late 1960s and 1970s.

At a news conference after the article was published in September 2012, Furlong said he had not received a single phone call from the newspaper and had also been told at one point that for a payment he could make it go away.

The freelance journalist told the court that any suggestion she tried to extort Furlong is a "100 per cent mistruth" and she gave him every opportunity to respond to the allegations through his lawyer.

She also denies Furlong's accusations that she has a personal vendetta against him, saying she met him on just three occasions before the story was published to ask questions as a journalist.