A blogger in Thunder Bay, Ont., has been ordered by Ontario's Superior Court of Justice to pay $380,000 in damages, after making Facebook po
A blogger in Thunder Bay, Ont., has been ordered by Ontario's Superior Court of Justice to pay $380,000 in damages, after making Facebook posts in 2022 accusing drag performers of grooming children.
The judgment was made on two separate, related libel cases, and was issued Thursday by Justice Helen M. Pierce after being heard in the northwestern Ontario city on Jan. 31 via ZOOM.
The cases relate to Facebook posts made in September 2022 and December 2022 by blogger Brian Webster on a page called "Real Thunder Bay Courthouse – Inside Edition." The page is no longer active.
The first post references CBC News coverage of an upcoming drag event in Dryden, which was then cancelled following an unfounded prank call. Sharing screenshots of the news story, Webster called the drag queens involved in the event "groomers."
In the December 2022 post, Webster referenced an upcoming drag storytime event in Thunder Bay and referred to "local drag queens who have been criminally charged with child pornography." No such charges were laid.
In her decision, Pierce describes Webster's behaviour as that of a "common bully."



















