Canadian Sisters Win Defamation Case After Social Media Campaign Alleged They Mocked George Floyd’s Murder

Two Ontario sisters have been awarded $100,000 in a defamation suit against an activist who started a social media campaign against them, alleging a Snapchat video they made mocked the murder of George Floyd. 

The sisters, Shania and Justine Lavallee, were both fired from their respective jobs at Boston Pizza and Canada Border Services Agency in the spring of 2020, shortly after the social media campaign began.   

The Ontario Superior Court decision by Justice Marc Smith said that ​​Solit Isak, who identifies as Black, initiated a “brutal and unempathetic campaign to destroy the lives of two young women.” 

According to the ruling, Isak made dozens of posts about the sisters after viewing a screenshot of a Snapchat video made by Shania Lavallee, which were quickly amplified by social media and the news media. The screenshot showed Justine being pinned down by her boyfriend, who had his knee on her back and was holding her arms back. Isak viewed the image shortly after Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer—setting off a summer of protests about racial injustice—and believed the Snapchat post mocked his death. 

In the court ruling Isak admitted she never saw the video, and the sisters said the video was just play fighting, and they had no intentions of invoking Floyd’s death. (At the time, there were a number of news stories about the “George Floyd Challenge” in which people posted images of themselves kneeling on people’s necks, but it appears only a handful of individuals actually participated.) 

The court also never saw the video, as it was deleted by Snapchat, but accepted the word of the sisters and two of their friends who saw the video that there was no attempt to mock Floyd. 

Isak’s lawyer, Cedric Nahum, said they intend to appeal the ruling.

“I believe that everyone should understand that ‘the context’ in which one’s activities will be viewed is greater than one’s own isolated personal worldview,” Nahum told the National Post. 

“I believe Ms. Isak was free to view the act complained of as racist and that she ought to have been free to express it,” he said. “I disagree that a white judge should be telling Ms. Isak or any other Black person what is and is not racism.”

Smith wrote that Isak did not attempt to verify the video before starting her social media campaign. 

She did “not provide any background facts in her statements, not even in general terms.  Rather, on unsubstantiated evidence that ‘police brutality’ was said in the video, she immediately posts the screenshot and accuses Justine, Shania, and [Justine’s boyfriend] Gilmour [Driscoll-Maurice] of mocking the tragic death of George Floyd.” 

Floyd’s killer, former police officer Derek Chauvin, was convicted of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter. He kneeled on Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes. 

At the height of the campaign against the sisters, Shania issued an apology online, and later said to VICE News, “I posted a video of my family member play fighting as they do regularly. In no way were we making fun of or minimizing the tragic death of Mr. George Floyd. I understand how the image could have been misconstrued and for that I sincerely apologize.”

In her longer statement on social media she also said, “I completely understand the frustration and the anger towards me and there are no excuses for my actions. I am so sorry to anyone who has been hurt or affected in any way through my post as this is not a reflection of who I am as a person.”

Justice Smith said the apology was not “not evidence proving that the screenshot was an act of racism.” He also wrote, “Shania’s apology needs to be put into context and I do not find that it represents an admission of guilt.” 

Besides losing their jobs, both sisters say they also lost potential future employment. Shania said she lost a teaching offer at the Ottawa Catholic School Board and Justine said she failed an RCMP character check. 

The Lavallees also said they left their home for roughly a week due to harassment.