2016 March 14

CUPW v. Quebecor Media Inc., 2016 ONCA 206

The Ontario Court of Appeal, reversing a lower court judge, held that the plaintiff had complied with s. 5(1) of the Ontario Libel and Slander Act, RSO 1990, c. L12. The Court stated that “[i]t is well-established that s. 5(1) notices … do not have to be in a specific form or reproduce word for word the statements alleged to be defamatory” and do not need to contain the same particularity as required in a statement of claim. The appellant plaintiff’s notice achieved all of the statutory objectives, by bringing home to the defendant the essence of the matter complained of by the plaintiff and giving the defendant the opportunity to analyze the alleged defamation and then decide whether it calls for a correction, apology or retraction. In this case, the notices “specified that the matters complained of were the statements and inferences from the July 24, 2014 internet broadcast and the July 28, 2014 article in the Toronto Sun print newspaper and internet blog“.