defamation
Weighing the Public Interest: SCC Applies the Pointes Anti-SLAPP Analysis in Bent v Platnick
Does protecting an individual’s freedom of expression supersede protecting those harmed by it? Where does the public interest lie within this analysis? These are the questions that the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) grappled with in the recent decision of Bent v Platnick, 2020 SCC 23 [Platnick], decided alongside 1704604 Ontario Ltd. v Pointes Protection Association, 2020 SCC 22 [Pointes]. This […]
Defamation in the Twitterverse: Levant v Day
Introduction It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. – Mark Twain, Following the Equator What does harm to the reputation of a polarizing public figure entail? What is the […]
Haaretz.com v Goldhar : The SCC Analyzes Legal Jurisdiction in the Internet Age
As the extensive reach of the Internet continues to blur borders, so too are issues of legal jurisdiction increasingly entwined. Courts are now frequently called upon to reconcile a once novel question: are our current laws still appropriate in a digital age? The rise of the Internet particularly challenges Canadian courts to determine when they […]
Amici Curiae: Essential Services Act, Broadcasting Act Reference, and the Vander Zalm Defamation Trial
Saskatchewan Essential Services Legislation Deemed Unconstitutional A Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench justice recently struck down a controversial piece of legislation that denied public sector workers the right to strike. The legislation was deemed unconstitutional for infringing on public sector workers’ rights to freedom of association, guaranteed by section 2(d) of the Charter of Rights […]
Quan v Cusson Goes Before the Supreme Court of Canada
Today, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") is hearing arguments in what could prove to be a sea change in defamation law. (For more background on the case see the January 20th, 2009 post from Eric Baum.) Background The appellants in this case, the Ottawa Citizen, are arguing that the Supreme Court’s past decisions, denying the […]
Cusson v Quan: The Responsible Journalism Defence?
The traditional Canadian law of defamation has, itself, developed a bad reputation. While some commentators have gone so far as to call it a “mausoleum of antiquities peculiar to the common law and unknown elsewhere in the civilized world…a labyrinth of uncertainties, of false clues, blind alleys, and unexplored passages,” others have been kinder, simply […]