Examining Saskatchewan’s New Defamation Act (The Defamation Act)

Societal change and technological development often cause statutes to become outdated. With respect to the law of defamation, the statutory laws across Canada are somewhat archaic because they were drafted well before the development of the internet and the explosion in the use of social media platforms. Accordingly, statutory provisions related to the requirement to give notice for defamatory publications in the media do not, in general, apply to online defamatory publications unless they are first published in a traditional printed newspaper or aired on a radio or television broadcast.

For example, section 5(1) of Ontario’s Libel and Slander Act (the “LSA”) states as follows:

No action for libel in a newspaper or in a broadcast lies unless the plaintiff has, within six weeks after the alleged libel has come to the plaintiff’s knowledge, given to the defendant notice in writing, specifying the matter complained of, which shall be served in the same manner as a statement of claim or