Rehtaeh Parsons

Rehtaeh Anne Parsons (, ; December 9, 1995 – April 7, 2013) was a 17-year-old Cole Harbour District High School student who attempted suicide by hanging at her home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, on April 4, 2013, leading to a coma and the decision to switch her life support machine off three days later. On a Facebook page set up in tribute to her daughter, Parsons' mother blamed the four boys who allegedly raped and released images of her, the subsequent constant "bullying and messaging and harassment", and the failure of the Canadian justice system, for her daughter's decision to die by suicide.

In response to Parsons' suicide, Nova Scotia enacted a law in August 2013 allowing victims to seek protection from cyberbullying and to sue the perpetrator.

Background In November 2011, Rehtaeh Parsons, then 15, went with a friend to a home in which she was allegedly raped by four teenage boys. The teenagers were drinking vodka at a small party. Parsons had little memory of the event, except that, at one point, she vomited while a boy was allegedly raping her. The incident was photographed and the photo became widespread in Parsons' school and town in three days. Afterwards, many in school called Parsons a "slut" and she received text messages and Facebook messages from people requesting to have sex with her. The alleged rape went unreported for several days until Parsons broke down and told her family, who contacted an emergency health team and the police.

According to an RCMP report, in March 2013, six boys, including some of Parsons' alleged rapists, had an argument with three other boys. One of the three boys, who was a friend of Parsons, was stabbed and treated for a "non-life-threatening injury".

Investigation A year following the alleged rape, the RCMP concluded an investigation stating, "[an] investigation into an earlier sexual assault was completed, and in consultation with the Crown, there was insufficient evidence to lay charges". Instead, the police called it a "he said, she said" case and also decided the photo was not criminal, in spite of Parsons being a minor. On April 12, the RCMP announced the case was being reopened in light of "new and credible information" that they said did not come from the Internet.

In September 2014, one of the boys, by then 20, pleaded guilty to a charge of making child pornography in relation to the photo of Parsons. Citing the offender's age at the time of the crime and Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Crown prosecutor advised the judge that the only possible penalties in this case were either probation or a conditional discharge. In November 2014, the first defendant to plead guilty was sentenced to a conditional discharge with 12 months' probation. With a conditional discharge, his criminal record will not show a conviction in this case, unless he breaches the terms of his probation.

Also in November 2014, the second person charged, then 19, pleaded guilty to a charge of distributing child pornography, in relation to the photo of himself and Parsons. He was sentenced on January 15, 2015, to one year of probation and required to submit a sample to a DNA database. In an unusual move for a case involving minors convicted of a crime, the judge ruled that this conviction would be kept in his criminal record for a period of five years.

Milton–Pepler inquiry On June 14, 2013, the 56-page report of Penny Milton and Debra Pepler, two education experts from Ontario, was released. The provincial government of Darrell Dexter requested the report, which is entitled "External Review of the Halifax Regional School Board’s Support of Rehtaeh Parsons".

Significantly, the authors recommended an external review of the IWK Health Centre, the Halifax hospital where Parsons was a patient for five weeks after she had a breakdown and became suicidal. The report was delayed until legal proceedings involving two men charged with child pornography offences in the case concluded.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper commented on the case, saying he was "sickened" by the story and that the online bullying was "simply criminal activity." Rehtaeh's funeral on April 13 was attended by 500 people, including Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter, who said he came "first and foremost as a father trying to imagine what kind of incredible, unfathomable grief could be visited upon a family."

There are reports that members of the hacker group Anonymous involved itself in tracing the alleged perpetrators of the incidents Parsons suffered. In its news release, Anonymous blamed the death on "school teachers, administrators, the police and prosecutors, those who should have been role models in the late Rehtaeh's life." Leah Parsons had called for the case to be settled legally rather than by vigilantes. and with Audrie Pott, a fifteen-year-old girl from Saratoga, California, United States, and appear to show similar characteristics. New laws are being considered after these events. Parsons has been described as a "victim of sexting".

On April 26, 2013, Christie Blatchford wrote in the National Post that a problem in the case was that one of Parsons' friends claimed Parsons was "flirtatious" on the night the photo was taken, was seen laughing in bed with two boys and also there were "accounts from Rehtaeh herself and independent evidence, including retrieved online messages, that supported the suggestion the sex that took place was consensual." Blatchford also wrote the photo did not show Parsons' face. In response, Parsons' father, Glen Canning, accused Blatchford of victim blaming and argued, "The two boys involved in taking and posing for the photograph stated Rehtaeh was throwing up when they had sex with her. That is not called consensual sex. That is called rape."

Legislative impact

In August 2013, Nova Scotia enacted a law allowing victims of cyberbullying to seek protection, including help in identifying anonymous perpetrators, and to sue the individuals or the parents in the case of minors. The law was passed in response to Parsons' suicide.

That law was quashed in 2015 by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court who ruled the law's definition of cyberbullying was too wide and infringed on Charter rights and freedom of expression.

A replacement law, the Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act, and came into force in 2018.

In December 2014, Nova Scotia's attorney general announced that she was directing the province's Public Prosecution Service to pursue breaches of the publication ban in Parsons' case only if the breach is derogatory of Rehtaeh Parsons. The ban remains technically in place but unbiased reports about the case will not be subject to prosecution.