 | Thursday, January 28, 2021 | |  | | | TONIGHT ON THE FIFTH ESTATE | | | Peter Nygard: The secret videos | | | There is always a sense of anticipation on the verge of broadcasting a major Fifth Estate production, especially if the subject is one we've been researching for years, as with our documentary Peter Nygard: The Secret Videos, scheduled for tonight at 9PM on CBC Television.
Frankly, a decade or so ago, it all seemed quite different as we finished our first investigation into the controversial multi-millionaire Canadian fashion mogul, which aired on April 9, 2010. Entitled Peter Nygard: Larger Than Life, it was the initial in-depth examination of Nygard and in many ways, the origin story for the plot that's since been playing itself out: allegations of rape and sexual assault by more than 80 women over the past four decades, civil suits and criminal indictments in the U.S., and now under arrest in Winnipeg while facing extradition.
In this Me Too era, it may seem the stuff of familiar headlines, but back in 2010 it was uncharted territory for Fifth Estate producer Timothy Sawa and me. Peter Nygard filed two lawsuits against us even before our story aired on the CBC -- the first to stop us using video from one of his fashion shows and the second claiming we’d induced former employees to breach their non-disclosure agreements by doing on-camera interviews.
And Nygard's lawyers put us on notice that they were just getting started. They warned we should expect a litany of lawsuits as soon as our documentary actually was broadcast. We had no reason to doubt it. His reported fortune then over $800 million, Nygard has been among the most litigious of Canadians, with numerous active lawsuits at any time -- suing competitors, employees, ex-wives, neighbours and especially journalists. Along with polyester, legal chill is his specialty. Indeed, after that first broadcast he took us to court three more times, for copyright infringement, civil defamation and criminal libel.
But it wasn't just the threat of endless legal action. While we were investigating Nygard, strange things kept happening which convinced us that our phones were being tapped and our emails hacked. And there was the suspicious stranger parked outside Timothy Sawa's house in Winnipeg over three nights.
So, early in April, 2010, Timothy and I agreed to meet for a beer at a pub around the corner from the CBC in downtown Toronto to have a serious chat. Then, as now, a collegial cocktail wasn’t unusual after wrapping a show, but that beer 11 years ago was hardly Happy Hour.
The conversation was unlike any I've had during my career. What we pondered is anathema to an investigative journalist. We bluntly discussed whether we should continue with the Nygard story in the face of what seemed malicious but credible threats. We had no doubt that if he tried, he could embroil us with lawyers and lawsuits for years to come.
Of course, I'd had second thoughts about assignments before, but mostly in places like Iraq or Somalia where I was being shot at. And never in an investigation like this one, on which we'd worked for a year, a ground-breaking story that was important and true. Still, we asked each other the question: should we proceed?
Spoiler alert: it took a few beers, but we pretty much knew from the beginning the answer would be 'yes'.
So, here we are now, more than 10 years later. Did we make the right decision? Journalistically, absolutely. The name Nygard has come to define the Me Too movement in Canada and the Fifth Estate has been on the leading edge of investigating and telling the story.
But as feared, we've spent much of the past decade legally entwined with Nygard. In particular, he was the driving force in the prosecution of myself, Timothy Sawa and producer Morris Karp under a rarely-used section of the Criminal Code of Canada for criminal libel. Unlike his civil defamation suits against us, the potential penalty in criminal libel isn't monetary, it's prison time, with a maximum sentence of five years behind bars. In other words, for daring to investigate Peter Nygard and report on it, the three of us spent the past decade as criminally accused defendants while our case dragged slowly through the courts.
And so it remained until the last day of November when the Manitoba Crown Prosecutor stayed those charges of criminal libel and finally discontinued the prosecution against us pursued by Nygard.
Then, two weeks later, Nygard himself was indicted in the U.S. on charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. At the request of the FBI, he was arrested by the RCMP in Winnipeg where he remains, facing extradition.
So now it is Peter Nygard who is criminally accused.
I can say with authority that Timothy Sawa, my pal and Fifth Estate producer of tonight’s documentary, knows as much or more than anyone about the Nygard saga. And now, you can learn more too when he hosts Evil By Design, an 8-part podcast on the Nygard story, available on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
-Bob McKeown and The Fifth Estate team
Tune in tonight at 9 p.m., 9:30 in Newfoundland and Labrador. | | | | | | | MORE ON THIS INVESTIGATION |  | For more on this story, read The Fifth Estate's full report on how a whistleblower provided hours of private footage, which give insight into life behind the scenes for the former Canadian fashion mogul who is alleged to have abused women and girls for decades. | | | | | PODCAST: EVIL BY DESIGN |  | CBC's new podcast, Evil by Design charts the Nygard saga from its very beginning, all the way up to the charges he faces today.
It’s a dark and painful topic to have spent more than a decade investigating, and defending in court, but it’s just too important to let go. So many lives have been forever changed by what happened to them. None of this would have happened without their trust in me to tell their stories.
Evil by Design is a series that is about more than one man. It’s about the systems, cultures and people who protected him. And a series that looks at the mistakes and weaknesses in our systems. We’ve recently heard about several rich and powerful men who got away with sexual misconduct and rape for decades; people like Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Cosby. It’s essential we untangle how they did it, no matter how far back their crimes go, so that the women they hurt can find justice and so the systems that enabled them can be permanently dismantled.
The story of Peter Nygard is yet another cautionary tale about how money and power in the wrong hands can be devastating. I lived in Winnipeg in the 2000s and heard the stories and rumors then. Why did it take until now for him to be stopped? That’s a key question we explore in this series that urgently needs to be answered.
Evil by Design drops today, with episodes every Thursday after that.
- Fifth Estate producer and Evil by Design host Timothy Sawa
| | |  | Thursday, January 28, 2021 | |  | Fifth on Gem. Watch the latest episodes or catch up on past seasons of The Fifth Estate any time you want. Start streaming now | | | | | | | | STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED | | |  | | Dec. 30, 2020 | After missing his sons' birthdays and spending Christmas stranded on a southwestern Ontario farm, Embling O'Garro couldn't wait to leave the cold behind and return to the warmth of his home and loved ones. | | | | | |  | | Jan. 22, 2021 | | Nine months after a gunman used a replica police vehicle during a deadly shooting rampage in Nova Scotia, the federal government is suspending the sale of all surplus RCMP vehicles. | | | | | | | | NEXT WEEK ON THE FIFTH ESTATE |  | When he was 12 years old, Craig Kielburger was inspired to take up the cause of advocating for children's rights. He and brother Marc created WE Charity, which together with associated companies eventually grew into one of Canada's biggest enterprises of its kind.
Their success attracted the attention of politicians, celebrities and thousands of youth. But the global pandemic, along with controversy surrounding a government student grant program, has the charity trying to define its future.
The Fifth Estate interviewed dozens of current and former WE employees to gain insight into how the charity operated. Mark Kelley has a story of how attracting and keeping sponsors became a central focus of WE's work, and how that generated controversy within. The story includes a feature interview with the Kielburger brothers and some surprising information about their current relationship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has attended many WE events.
We hope you'll join us.
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