December 3, 2021 – The Law of Defamation

“A defamation claim requires a claimant to prove three elements, on a balance of probabilities: (i) the defendant made a defamatory statement, in the sense that the impugned words would tend to lower the plaintiff’s reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person; (ii) the words in fact referred to the plaintiff; and (iii) the words were communicated to at least one person other than the plaintiff: Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, [2009] 3 S.C.R. 640, at para. 28.”

            Zoutman v. Graham, 2020 ONCA 767 (CanLII) at 20