Editing Defamation (section)

====Criminal====
The ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code of Canada]]'' specifies the following as criminal offences:
* [[Defamatory libel]], defined as "matter published, without lawful justification or excuse, that is likely to injure the [[reputation]] of any person by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or that is designed to insult the person of or concerning whom it is published",<ref>{{Cite CrC|298}}</ref> receives the same penalty.<ref>{{Cite CrC|301}}</ref>
* A "libel known to be false" is an [[indictable offence]], for which the prison term is a maximum of five years.<ref>{{Cite CrC|300}}</ref>

The criminal portion of the law has been rarely applied, but it has been observed that, when treated as an indictable offence, it often appears to arise from statements made against an agent of the Crown, such as a [[police officer]], a [[corrections officer]], or a [[Crown attorney]].<ref>{{cite news|last= Mann|first= Arshy|date= 29 September 2014|title= The trouble with criminal speech|url= http://canadianlawyermag.com/5299/The-trouble-with-criminal-speech.html|work= Canadian Lawyer|access-date= 6 March 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170307203953/http://canadianlawyermag.com/5299/The-trouble-with-criminal-speech.html|archive-date= 7 March 2017|url-status= dead}}</ref> In the most recent case, in 2012, an Ottawa restaurant owner was convicted of ongoing online harassment of a customer who had complained about the quality of food and service in her restaurant.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cyberbullying restaurant owner gets 90 days in jail |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/cyberbullying-restaurant-owner-gets-90-days-in-jail-1.1297395 |access-date=23 February 2021 |agency=CBC |date=16 November 2012}}</ref>

According to the OSCE official report on defamation laws issued in 2005, 57 persons in Canada were accused of defamation, libel and insult, among which 23 were convicted – 9 to prison sentences, 19 to [[probation]] and one to a fine. The average period in prison was 270 days, and the maximum sentence was four years of imprisonment.{{sfn |OSCE Report |2005 |p=40}}