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Michael Higgins: Frances Widdowson sues Lethbridge university for $3M in defamation claim

She was accused of ‘hate speech’ and of lying, according to court documents

Frances Widdowson, professor, “academic provocateur” and an increasing terror to higher education administrators, is suing the University of Lethbridge for defamation claiming she was accused of spreading prejudice, hate, disinformation and lies. 

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Widdowson, who is claiming $3 million in damages, also alleges that she was defamed when the university sent out a notice that it would be holding a sacred smudging ceremony to “dissipate the negative atmosphere brought by this individual to our community.” 

Michael Higgins: Frances Widdowson sues Lethbridge university for $3M in defamation claim Back to video

Characterizing Widdowson as a “source of ‘negativity’ and communal or spiritual contamination, personally ‘brought’ by her, so serious that the university community required a formal, public ceremony to ‘cleanse’ itself of it” is defamatory, says her statement of claim. 

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