Research by Sara Sanabria and Dr. Christopher Dietzel cited by the Court of Appeal of Quebec

Congratulations to Sara Sanabria, JD/BCL Candidate at the McGill Faculty of Law, and Dr. Christopher Dietzel, Research Associate on iMPACTS, whose work was cited by the Court of Appeal of Quebec in the decision Desbiens c. Standish. The full decision can be read here (in French).

Sanabria and Dietzel's (2023) article "I Can Be Sued for That?" When University Community Members Are Sued for Defamation in Response to Allegations of Sexual Violence, which was published in the Education & Law Journal, examined cases of university members who are sued for defamation in response to allegations of sexual violence. Here is the full abstract: 

As a backlash to the #MeToo movement, men are increasingly suing women who have publicly accused them of sexual violence. There is limited research on how people use defamation law to silence others from speaking out about their experiences of sexual violence, and even fewer studies examine this topic in the university context. This article addresses these gaps by investigating defamation cases related to sexual violence on university campuses in Canada. A CanLII search of cases involving defamation and university community members was conducted in August 2023. The search yielded six cases in which a member of a university community sued another member for defamation after being publicly accused of sexual violence. Analysis of the cases reveals that female students were overwhelmingly the targets of these claims and, in three cases, professors sued former students who had accused them of sexual violence. Because the use or the threat of the use of defamation law can have a chilling effect on reporting and disclosure, this issue must be considered through a community-centred lens that prioritizes fostering safe disclosure and reporting environments within university communities. To create learning communities where students feel safe and comfortable sharing their experiences of sexual violence, universities cannot turn a blind eye to this issue. Instead, they must take active steps to support students and help them when cases like this arise.

Again, congratulations to Sanabria and Dietzel. This citation is a reminder about the value of our work on iMPACTS and the importance of addressing sexual violence.