In his September 1, 2016 judgment of Owen v Post Media Network Inc., Justice Darryl Brown declared “in the circumstances of this case, there has been no discrimination”.

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission (SHRC) prosecuted a complaint against the Regina Leader-Post alleging that the Leader-Post discriminated against the complainant (Mr. Owens) on the basis of his religion by refusing to publish an anti-LGBT advertisement during Pride Week. At trial, the Court rejected the complaint against the Leader-Post.

Post Media’s lawyer Sean Sinclair had argued the ad wasn’t rejected because of Owens’ faith but because it was contrary to the paper’s values, was offensive and targeted a specific group of people.

The Court commented on the important and vital role of a free press and that requiring a newspaper to publish an advertisement would undermine the freedom of that press.

To learn more about this decision, click here.