The decision, issued by Justice Helen M. Pierce of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, is being celebrated by LGBTQ activists as a landmark ruling — yet it also raises questions about the selective application of Canada’s free expression protections.

The defamation suits were brought on by Rainbow Alliance Dryden and three drag performers: Caitlin Hartlen, Felicia Crichton, and John-Marcel Forget. It stemmed from two posts made in 2022 by Brian Webster on a since-deactivated Facebook page called “Real Thunder Bay Courthouse – Inside Edition.”

According to court documents obtained by CBC, the first post referenced a CBC article about a series of Rainbow Alliance Dryden drag queen events scheduled to take place, including one that was later cancelled due to an “unfounded prank call.”

Webster had shared a screenshot of the article, along with a post that questioned:

"ASK YOURSELF WHY THESE PEOPLE NEED TO PERFORM FOR CHILDREN
Groomers: that’s the agenda, just look at the face of that one child in the photo. Tells you all you need to know."

A second post in December 2022 linked an upcoming drag story time in Thunder Bay Public Library to unrelated, alleged criminal charges against local drag performers.

Excerpts from that post read:

"CITY OF THUNDER BAY PROMOTING DEVIANT BEHAVIOUR TO CHILDREN
Apparently our city is unaware of local drag queens who have been criminally charged with child pornography."

The post then invited readers to click on links that led them to cases where individuals, who were not the drag performers, had been charged with possessing child pornography.

The Ontario court ultimately ruled that such statements go beyond fair comment.

In December 2023, a separate ruling already dismissed Webster’s attempt to have the case thrown out under the province's anti-SLAPP legislation. Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) laws are meant to prevent powerful figures from using defamation suits to silence critics engaged in matters of public interest.

However, in this case, the court determined that branding drag performers as “groomers” was not a matter of public interest but rather an attack based on harmful stereotypes.

This decision stands in stark contrast to a court's ruling just seven months prior for former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld, who is currently being represented in his own case in front of the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal by attorney James Kitchen, the same counsel for Webster.

Neufeld, an outspoken critic of radical gender ideology being taught in schools, had a separate defamation case against Glen Hansman, a former president of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation, dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada.

In that case, the Supreme Court sided with Hansman’s application to have Neufeld's case tossed under B.C.'s anti-SLAPP legislation. The top court ruled that Hansman saying Neufeld held hateful and transphobic views, along with publicly stating that Neufeld — who was a school trustee at the time — was unfit to be near children, was protected under “counter-speech" grounds. 

Webster’s case is a warning to those who challenge progressive orthodoxy: your speech may not be afforded the same protections as your opponents.

Meanwhile, Neufeld’s ordeal is a stark reminder that “counter-speech” may only be celebrated when it aligns with the prevailing narrative.

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