Andrew W. MacDonald

The appellants, a newspaper publisher and his company, appealed the dismissal of their defamation and other tort claims against city councillors, school trustees, and media entities under Ontario's anti-SLAPP legislation (s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act).

The appellants had published articles critical of the Toronto Catholic District School Board's LGBTQ2S+ policies, using derogatory language.

The respondents, in turn, took action to have the City of Toronto cease advertising in the appellants' newspaper, alleging the articles promoted homophobia and transphobia.

The motion judge dismissed the action, finding the respondents' expressions related to a matter of public interest and that the appellants failed to show their claims had substantial merit or that the respondents had no valid defence (specifically, fair comment).

The Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal, agreeing that the fair comment defence was viable, and that the appellants' constitutional arguments regarding freedom of expression and religious protection were without merit.

The appeal on costs was also dismissed.

Following the successful dismissal of the plaintiffs' defamation action under the anti-SLAPP provisions of the Courts of Justice Act, the moving party defendants sought their costs.

The plaintiffs argued that the court should apply the appropriateness exception under s. 137.1(7) to award partial indemnity costs instead of the presumptive full indemnity costs.

The court rejected the plaintiffs' arguments, finding no basis to depart from the full indemnity presumption, and awarded the defendants their costs on a full indemnity basis (and substantial indemnity for one defendant on a pro bono retainer), totaling over $383,000.

The plaintiffs, a newspaper publisher and his company, brought an action for defamation, misfeasance in public office, inducing breach of contract, and wrongful interference with economic relations against several city councillors, school board trustees, and a media company.

The action arose from statements made by the defendants criticizing articles published by the plaintiffs as homophobic and transphobic, and advocating for the cessation of city advertising in the plaintiffs' newspaper.

The defendants brought motions under s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act to dismiss the action as a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP).

The court granted the motions, finding that the defendants' expressions related to matters of public interest.

While the defamation claim had substantial merit, the plaintiffs failed to establish that the other claims had merit, and failed to show that the defendants had no valid defences, including fair comment, qualified privilege, and responsible communication.

Furthermore, the court found that the public interest in protecting the defendants' expression outweighed any harm suffered by the plaintiffs.

The Globe and Mail brought a motion to set aside a sealing order granted by Conway J. that sealed a supplementary affidavit and excerpts of surreptitiously recorded transcripts in a corporate winding-up application.

The responding party opposed the motion, arguing that unsealing the materials would harm his privacy and dignity interests.

Applying the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Sherman Estate, the court found that the responding party failed to establish that unsealing the court file posed a serious risk to an important public interest that would justify rebutting the strong presumption in favour of open courts.

The motion was granted and the sealing order was set aside.

The Crown brought an application for a sealing order and to hold part of the proceedings in camera regarding charges under the Security of Information Act.

The charges stemmed from intercepted telephone calls to a foreign embassy.

The Crown sought to prevent public disclosure of a redacted CSIS affidavit and warrant, arguing it would injure Canada's international relations.

Applying the Dagenais/Mentuck test, the court found that the orders were necessary to prevent a serious risk to the proper administration of justice and that the salutary effects outweighed the deleterious effects on the open court principle.

The application was granted.

Following a successful motion by the defendants to strike the plaintiff's Statement of Claim with leave to amend, the defendants sought substantial indemnity costs of $51,710.82.

The court found no basis for substantial indemnity costs and considered the partial indemnity claim of $34,100.37 excessive due to over-lawyering.

Taking into account the plaintiff's recent termination and lack of severance, the court fixed costs at $15,000 on a partial indemnity basis, payable in the cause.

The defendants brought a motion to strike the plaintiff's statement of claim, which alleged wrongful/constructive dismissal, negligence, harassment, discrimination, and intentional infliction of mental suffering against his former employer, the NHLPA, its insurer, and several individual employees.

The court struck the 62-page statement of claim in its entirety for failing to plead material facts concisely and for pleading evidence and irrelevant facts.

The court dismissed the action against the insurer and all individual defendants except one manager, finding no reasonable cause of action against them.

The plaintiff was granted leave to amend his claim to properly plead constructive/wrongful dismissal, negligence, and human rights violations against the NHLPA, and intentional infliction of mental suffering against the one manager.

The Court reviewed whether the transportation regulator reasonably dismissed a discrimination complaint for lack of standing.

The majority held the regulator applied an unduly rigid approach that effectively barred public interest complaints and therefore acted unreasonably.

The appeal was allowed in part and the matter was returned for full reconsideration, including whether to hear the complaint on a proper exercise of discretion.

A dissent would have upheld the regulator’s gatekeeping approach and restored its dismissal.