Law360 Canada ( September 15, 2026, 9:35 AM EDT) -- Appeal by appellant from an order dismissing his defamation action under the Protection of Public Participation Act (PPPA), and cross-appeal by the respondent from the order that the parties bear their own costs. The appellant was a student at University of British Columbia (UBC) and a coordinator with the University of British Columbia Social Justice Centre (UBC SCJ). The respondent printed and distributed stickers bearing the UBC SCJ logo and the words “I ❤️ HAMAS.” The sticker was wrongly attributed to UBC SCJ and messages posted on social media called for student members to be expelled, deported, charged, or victimized. The appellant commenced a defamation action. On an application, the judge found that the sticker was defamatory and was published but concluded the appellant did not demonstrate that the sticker referred to him and dismissed the claim on the basis that it did not have substantial merit. The appellant argued that the judge erred by assessing identification from the perspective of an abstract reasonable person rather than reasonable people acquainted with him, and by requiring him to establish harm in order to prove the sticker referred to him. The respondent argued that the judge applied the correct test. By cross-appeal, the respondent argued that he should have been awarded full indemnity costs, alternatively, party-and-party costs....