What is the test for defamatory statements?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Weaver v Ball, 2018 BCSC 205 (CanLII):
Whether a statement is defamatory is to be determined from the natural and ordinary meaning of the words. Further, the impugned statement must be considered in the context of the publication as a whole. The traditional axiom is that “the bane and the antidote must be taken together”, that is, a statement taken out of context may be considered defamatory but its “sting” may be neutralized by another part of the publication: Lougheed Estate v. Wilson, 2017 BCSC 1366 [Lougheed Estate], at para. 157.
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