Lawyer for missing N.S. toddler's family hopes cyberbullying law can stop online vitriol against boy's parents

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The parents of a Nova Scotia toddler who went missing this spring have spent the last six months coping with an added torment: thousands of people on social media accusing them of being responsible for their child's disappearance.

"I get angry," Jason Ehler, the boy's father, told The Current's Matt Galloway about what it's like seeing the comments online.

"There's no words for the feelings I get sometimes. You know, on top of trying to find my son and everything else, to deal with that, too? Shame on them."

Three-year-old Dylan Ehler was playing in his grandmother's yard in Truro, N.S., when he disappeared on May 6. Search and rescue teams found his boots, but there has been no other trace of him since. 

Truro police have said investigators do not believe there was any foul play in the toddler's disappearance.

Jason Ehler and Ashley Brown turned to the Truro community and social media to gather as many clues as possible about Dylan's disappearance, plan search parties and simply keep their son's image in the public consciousness.

But about a week after Dylan went missing, Brown said, people on social media began to turn their attention to herself and Ehler.

Some accused them of negligence leading to Dylan's disappearance. Others accused them of orchestrating his disappearance, or even killing their own son.

The largest Facebook group dedicated to discussion about Dylan's appearance has more than 17,000 members. Assuming each account belongs to a single, real person, that's more than Truro's entire population of about 12,000 people.

Ehler says he's had to put security cameras around his home because he feared he and Brown were being stalked.

"People were taking pictures of our backyard and following us, and making up more rumours," he said.

Brown says she has taken to going to a smaller grocery store because she felt people were glaring daggers at her during her visits to the larger supermarket.

Cyberbullying law

Lawyer Allison Harris is now representing Ehler and Brown pro bono. She wants to see if a new Nova Scotia law can help end the sustained campaign of online hate the couple has endured for over six months.

"I was shocked and appalled at some of the posts that I read," Harris said. 

"In speaking with Ashley and Jason and learning about how it's impacting them, and just understanding the gravity of it, how widespread it is, it was eye-opening for me."

Harris is hoping to use Nova Scotia's Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act to stop some users from making further online posts and threats — some of which she says have been sent privately to Ehler and Brown.

"[There are] a number of things the legislation allows, one of which is to request an order that they stop making these posts, that they make no further posts, that they have no further communication with Ashley and Jason, that they take down anything [posted] previously," said Harris.

"The act also allows the court to award damages, so money, for the harm that's caused."

The law was enacted in 2018, and was borne out of the death of Rehtaeh Parsons, a teen who died by suicide in 2013 after being the subject of years of cyberbullying and revenge porn.

Harris says the current law — which replaced an earlier version that was enacted directly following Parsons's death, but was struck down because it was too broad — defines cyberbullying as an online activity "that causes or is likely to cause harm to another individual," either through malice or recklessness.

"What I'm focusing on in this case are threats, intimidation and menacing conduct online, communications that are grossly offensive, indecent or obscene, communications that are harassment and making false allegations," Harris said.

The provincial law is the only one of its kind in Canada, said Harris. She added that legislation or case law in Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario address the "sharing of intimate images," but not a wider definition of cyberbullying.

Harris said there has been just one case decided under the cyberbullying law to date. It involved a Halifax realtor who took her estranged husband and his girlfriend to court for relentless online taunts, and won.

Balancing justice, free expression 

David Fraser, a privacy and internet lawyer in Halifax, said the initial version of the cyberbullying law was deemed unconstitutional because it infringed on charter rights. However, the pendulum may have since swung too far in the other direction, he added.

"They created a replacement statute that built in what lawyers think of as procedural fairness, but actually made it pretty cumbersome for individuals to get any sort of meaningful remedy," said Fraser.

"For example, I have not heard of any children who have been victimized by cyberbullying being able to take advantage of the new legislation."

While he said he is "incredibly sympathetic" to what Ehler and Brown are going through, he added that lawmakers will need to be wary in this case of penalizing expression that shouldn't be.

Some of the comments directed at the family would "absolutely" fall under the umbrella of cyberbullying, he said. "But others might not."

Harris did not specify how many individual users she and Dylan's parents are planning to name, nor what penalty or monetary damages they are seeking. But she also says she hopes this case can serve as "an education exercise" about online conduct.

"We're appealing to people's sense of human decency and hoping that they appreciate the harm that they are causing. And once they recognize that, hoping that they will stop," she said.

In the meantime, Brown and Ehler continue to search for answers about what happened to Dylan, and have a plea for those on social media.

"I would ask them to stop, and if they really cared about my son the way that they go on to say that they do, then come and help us," Brown said.

"Please stop judging us and come help."

Written by Jonathan Ore, with files from Kirsten Fenn. Produced by Mary-Catherine McIntosh.