The Wilderness Committee and Taseko Mines started their court battle Monday over alleged defamatory claims made by the environmental group about the proposed New Prosperity Mine.

Joe Foy, Wilderness Committee’s national campaign director, said the suit sends a message to not only his organization, but other citizens to think twice before about making public comments on projects.

“This is our 35th year and in our advocacy for the environment we basically only use our words, what we say and what we write,” he said. “We think there’s a lot at stake here.”

Foy said the suit may last up to two weeks in court.

Taseko Mines filed the notice of civil claim back in March 2012, alleging that the Wilderness Committee published defamatory statements online regarding the review process of the controversial New Prosperity Mine.

Taseko has proposed to develop a gold-copper mine southwest of Williams Lake on a site believed to be the seventh largest gold-copper deposit in the world. The company has spent approximately $120 million in development costs so far.

In the claim, Taseko takes issue with the committee’s comments about the proposed project “depositing toxic materials into a Fish Lake and Little Fish Lake;” polluting the headwaters of a major river system; turning the lakes into a toxic tailings pond; and being a “crazy” proposal, among others.

“The defamatory statements were motivated by express malice of the defendant Wilderness Committee ... arising from the known publication of falsehoods and continued publication of falsehoods after notification of their falsity, as part of a reckless and overzealous campaign to encourage the general public to oppose the prosperity project in all forms, including but not limited to the Former Prosperity Project and the New Prosperity Project,” the civil claim states.

In February 2012, Taseko asked the environmental group to remove the comments posted on its Facebook page and website, but they remain accessible online.

The company is seeking general, special, punitive and aggravated damages, costs and the ultimate removal of the statements.

But the suit has only brought more solidarity against the proposed gold-copper mine, according to Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.

Phillip said the union has made similar comments and was puzzled as to why the committee was singled out in the suit. 

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Photo: UBCIC Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs shares a message of support at the Vancouver courthouse, Jan. 19, 2015.