$1.75M in damages awarded to sexual health advocates smeared as “groomers”
- Judson Howie LLP
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Case Summary
CATIE et al v. Blackwell, 2025 ONSC 4678
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has awarded $1.75 million in damages, plus costs, to a group of eight plaintiffs who were targeted by an anti-2SLGBTQIA+ libel campaign administered by the owner of a website and a series of interconnected social media accounts.
In CATIE et al v. Blackwell, 2025 ONSC 4678, the plaintiffs were the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange (CATIE) and eight of its volunteer directors and staff members. CATIE is a national not-for-profit corporation that provides treatment and prevention information on HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. It works to support marginalized and at-risk populations, including people who use drugs, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and other vulnerable groups.
Beginning in May 2023, the defendant, Peter Scott Blackwell, launched an online libel campaign against the plaintiffs on his website and several associated X accounts and Facebook pages. He repeatedly and explicitly accused CATIE, its staff, and its board directors of sexually grooming children. Blackwell created individual profiles on his website for each of the plaintiffs, as well as for other current and former CATIE directors and staff. On these profiles, he labelled each person a “GROOMER,” a term he explicitly defined as a person who seeks to sexually manipulate and abuse children. His social media posts referred to the plaintiffs as “creeps,” “groomers,” “pedophiles,” and “predators,” and linked back to those profiles. Each profile also prominently referred to CATIE as a “sexually explicit child grooming content provider.”
Blackwell’s harassment of CATIE and its personnel included dozens of online posts, the largest share of which targeted CATIE’s director of communications, Andrew Brett, who was the subject of at least 34 defamatory publications. Blackwell also left harassing, expletive-laden voicemail messages at CATIE’s offices in which he called staff “fucking child-grooming pedophiles” and “dirty, dirty, rotten fucking child abusing pedophiles,” stating that they belonged in jail. After he was served with notice of libel, he escalated his defamatory postings.
Service of the Statement of Claim on Blackwell, who lives in Kelowna, B.C., was validated in August 2024. Blackwell failed to defend the action, and in May 2025, the plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment was heard by McVey J., presiding in Ottawa.
Her Honour concluded that the publications at issue were “plainly defamatory”, referring to the court's recent decision in Rainbow Alliance Dryden et al v. Webster, which confirmed that alleging persons associated with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community are “groomers” is defamatory. The court distinguished Rainbow Alliance on the basis that the defendant in that case had strongly implied pedophilia or child sexual exploitation, whereas Blackwell’s statements were very explicit.
The court awarded a total of $1,250,000 in general damages. Of this amount, $350,000 was awarded to CATIE, $300,000 to Mr. Brett, and $100,000 to each of six other individual plaintiffs. In determining general damages, Her Honour wrote:
It is also clear that the defendant targeted the plaintiffs because of their important work with CATIE, an organization dedicated to promoting the health and well-being of marginalized communities. By accusing the plaintiffs of pedophilia due to their work with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, the defendant perpetuated longstanding anti-gay stereotypes and exposed the plaintiffs to hatred and potential violence.
In awarding aggravated damages, Her Honour found that the defendant’s conduct was “malicious, sustained, and fuelled by hate, thereby compounding the harm suffered by the plaintiffs.” She went on to condemn the historical roots of “groomer” rhetoric as damaging slurs targeting the queer community, writing:
The defendant perpetuated a baseless and deeply damaging stereotype linking members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community to pedophilia – a false association that has long been used to marginalize, criminalize, and dehumanize gay people. This baseless stereotype has historically rationalized discrimination, and incited acts of hatred, harassment, and even physical violence. Use of the term ‘GROOMER’ in this context was plainly homophobic.
In her assessment of aggravated damages, Her Honour also recognized the threat that the defendant's publications posed to CATIE’s work, which supports the needs of at-risk and vulnerable populations:
The defendant’s conduct also undermined CATIE’s vital work and the efforts of its staff and volunteers. CATIE’s mission is to support health workers and to assist vulnerable and at-risk populations in preventing and managing blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections. By targeting CATIE’s staff and members of its volunteer board with defamatory accusations of pedophilia, the defendant risked deterring volunteer participation and impairing CATIE’s ability to attract and retain skilled personnel, thereby jeopardizing the organization’s operations.
Her Honour held that aggravated damages were warranted in the amounts of $100,000 payable to CATIE, $100,000 to Mr. Brett, and $50,000 to each of the remaining six individual plaintiffs.
Together with substantial indemnity costs of $23,000, the total judgment payable by Blackwell amounts to $1,773,000 plus interest. Notably, an additional plaintiff passed away shortly before the default judgment motion was heard. McVey J's decision leaves open the possibility of a further judgment being awarded if the deceased's estate trustee secures an order to continue.
CATIE’s statement on the court’s decision can be found here.
The plaintiffs were represented by Douglas W. Judson of Judson Howie LLP. Our firm also represented the successful plaintiffs in the Rainbow Alliance matter referred to above.
For more information, please contact:
Douglas W. Judson (he/him)
Judson Howie LLP
Email: doug@judsonhowie.ca