Outline
Overview
- The Legal Framework of Defamation in Canada
Recent Developments
- Recent Jurisprudence and Amendments to the Legislative Framework
What is Defamation?
- statement is defamatory
if:
"the impugned words might tend to expose the plaintiff to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or whether they lower the plaintiff in the estimation of reasonable persons who have common sense and who are reasonably thoughtful and well‐informed but who do not have an overly fragile sensibility"
Guergis v. Novak, 2013 ONCA 449 (CanLII)
- Defamation has primarily developed from common law.
- In Ontario, the Libel and Slander Act supplements or modifies the existing common law.
Slander vs. Libel
- Slander is the publication of a defamatory statement by means of an oral communication.
- Libel is the publication of a defamatory statement by means of a written communication.
Elements of the Tort of Defamation
The plaintiff must show...
- The statement was defamatory
- The statement made reference to the plaintiff
- The words were published or
disseminated
Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, para 28 (CanLII)
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