A butcher in Montreal says he is being harassed and threatened, and his reputation is being sullied.
Marc Bourg, who owns Marchand du Bourg butcher shop on Beaubien St. in Rosemont, said his Facebook page has been bombarded with comments from anti-meat activists.
Bourg said he set up the Facebook page a few days ago to advertise his business, and soon after, he started hearing from friends and clients about posts they felt were disturbing.
One man, Derek Rombeiro, posted some comments and pictures Bourg said were disturbing, and Bourg said more people began following suit, with images of dead animals, for example.
Rombeiro and others identified themselves as vegans and anti-meat activists, and they encouraged each other to bring down the business in any way they could.
Bourg said what was worse is they called him names like ‘murderer’ and ‘Nazi’ and made an allegation that the meat purchased at the butcher shop has worms in it and made people sick.
Bourg vehemently denies those claims, and said that harms his reputation. He said that is where he feels opinion crosses the line.
“There’s a message that those people don’t eat meat, they want to protect the world, they want to protect the animals, that’s okay. I respect that. But to come to my place and burn my name, that’s another point. You’re not allowed to do that, because I didn’t do anything. I respect you, you’re supposed to respect other people,” he said.
A small business owner, Bourg has owner his butcher shop for seven years, and said he simply wants to continue working in peace.
Several lawyers have stepped up to help Bourg and say they are examining whether some of these comments can be classified as defamation.
Denis Boucher is one of them.
"People should remember that it's not because they're in cyberspace that they are somewhat immune to our laws," said Boucher.
"The Civil Code applies and you can't damage someone's reputation just because you feel like it."
Rombeiro has not yet replied to attempts by CTV to contact him.
