Defendants Who Denied Making Impugned Defamatory Expressions Unable To Utilize Anti-SLAPP Law

Anti-SLAPP legislation in British Columbia and Ontario is producing interesting decisions and requiring courts to continue to consider the scope of the legislation. The Supreme Court of Canada has already rendered two important and comprehensive decisions in connection with how  section 137.1 of the Ontario Courts of Justice Act works and recently granted leave to appeal in Neufeld v. Hansman, which was decided under British Columbia's Protection of Public Participation Act (the "PPPA"). The PPPA is virtually identical to Ontario's  section 137.1 and therefore the granting of leave to appeal in Neufeld suggests that anti-SLAPP law is still evolving.

In Waterton Global Resources Management, Inc. v. Bockhold, 2022 BCSC 499, the British Columbia court recently dealt with another issue that has received little judicial consideration. In this case, the court was asked to consider whether a defendant who had denied making an impugned expression was entitled to bring