TORONTO – A first step to re-establishing and remedying slanderous and defamatory accusations. This is what NOW Magazine did in publishing its official apology to the Corriere Canadese and its publisher Joe Volpe for an article by Enzo DiMatteo published in the magazine in March 2021. An article in which the newspaper and the former minister were accused of homophobia, of continuous and incessant anti-gay attacks and of having conducted out a campaign of intimidation towards the LGBTQ2 community. All without foundation and with serious commercial damages. 

At the time, Corriere Canadese had been publicly attacked by some Toronto city councillors, apparently spurred on by a group of trustees on the Catholic School Board, after the newspaper questioned the merits of a site with pornographic content linked to the website of the Toronto Catholic District School Board. The newspaper’s complaint had been represented by critics – unwittingly or by design – as an attack on the LGBTQ2 community.

NOW Magazine‘s official apology will be published for the next six months on NOW’s website (click here). “This is a good first step”, said Mr. Volpe, “because the article was generated via the propagation of falsehoods. And for these, some will have to bear specific responsibilities”.

Admitting that they were wrong does credit to NOW Magazine. “We recognize – continued the former minister – the professionalism that NOW Magazine is demonstrating”.

But the affair, of course, is by no means over. There are other parties involved. In recent months they launched slanderous and defamatory accusations against the Corriere Canadese, its publisher and all the journalists who work in the newspaper. “A Court date has been set aside to deal with that and with them”, Volpe added.

Because at this point it is not just a question of re-establishing the truth, but of defending the dignity and professionalism of those who work at the Corriere in the face of aberrant and slanderous accusations designed to erode the economic viability of the enterprise and those whose livelihoods depend on it.