Very sorry to learn of this Connie.
Please continue to contribute on this site (you and Mark).
Best regards,
‘Pod.
We will contribute here! We are coming back to our roots. It was an interesting experiment to see if a FR-style board could exist in Canada.
I guess we have our answer.
One of the main issues in this case was that of liability of forum owners in Canada. If someone anonymously posts a comment on your forum that is later deemed to be defamatory, as the forum operator you walk into court assumed to be guilty, malicious and damages against the plaintiff are assumed. To make matters worse, as the forum operators, the defenses of fair comment and honestly held belief are not available to you. As part of the sentence for our horrible crime of allowing people to post their political opinions, we have now been barred by the court from ever operating a forum or blog where the public can post comments, for the rest of our lives.
Accusation equals guilt and there is no defense, even though you did not author the words yourself.
In Ontario, defamation is anything that is remotely negative about someone.