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A BC man was awarded $35,000 after his ex-girlfriend posted intimate images without consent. The Civil Resolution Tribunal found a targeted harassment campaign.
A man in British Columbia has been awarded $35,000 in damages after his ex-girlfriend posted intimate images of him on social media in what a tribunal called a targeted campaign to harass and torment him. The Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, issued last month, found that the woman, identified as SS, breached a protection order 14 times between March and September of this year. The couple, anonymized as BW and SS, had been in a relationship for four years before breaking up.
Tribunal Finds Targeted Harassment Campaign
According to the decision, after the breakup SS began harassing BW by posting intimate images of him on various social media accounts that were fake and meant to impersonate him or people he knew. In a previous related dispute, tribunal member Jeffrey Drozdiak found eight of the images met the definition of intimate, all showing the man's face and some showing his genitals. Drozdiak issued a protection order requiring SS to destroy all the images and make every reasonable effort to make them unavailable to others.
The respondent continued sharing the images and breached the protection order 14 times between March and September of this year. Drozdiak described the conduct as ongoing and intentional, motivated by revenge for the applicant ending the relationship.
BW told the tribunal that the spreading of the pictures is ruining his life and his business. He also said SS sent two images to his current partner and told them that she will never stop, and that her goal was to break them up and never let another woman get close to him. The man added that his ex left laughing reactions on all the posts on his business social media using a fake account that had a naked image of him as the profile picture.
The tribunal member accepted that the respondent's ongoing conduct demonstrates she has no concerns about how her actions affect the applicant. Drozdiak found that this ongoing, intentional conduct favours a significant damages award.
Limitation Act Applied to Online Images
The case raised a novel issue about how the Limitation Act applies to images posted online. Normally, applicants to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, including for intimate images-related damages, must make their claims within two years of an incident. In this case, one of the images the man claimed damages for was discovered by him in January 2024, and he made the claim in April 2026, meaning that image would be excluded from the decision. However, he provided proof that the image was still on the internet as of December 2025.
Drozdiak decided that the statute of limitations for intimate images cases should work like a nuisance claim, where an applicant can prove they suffered fresh damage from a continuing problem, or that the other party's actions created a new nuisance each day. The decision reads that an image shared online creates fresh damage every day it remains online. Each day, the limitation period starts again until the image is taken down. However, an applicant can only claim damages for the two-year period immediately before they started their claim.
Damages and Aggravating Factors
In intimate images cases, the applicant does not need to provide evidence they suffered harm, because without consent it is well known that sharing a person's intimate images is harmful. In addition, British Columbia's Intimate Images Protection Act makes sharing such images illegal and actionable without proof of damage. Drozdiak accepted BW's submission about the harm he suffered.
Drozdiak also considered the respondent's breach of the protection order and her evading of being served CRT disputes as aggravating factors. The applicant said she is treating this process as a joke. The applicant asked for $35,000, and the tribunal granted it, broken down as $30,000 in compensatory damages and $5,000 in aggravated damages. SS must also pay BW $444.20 to compensate him for hiring a process server.
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis: Call 911 if you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety. The Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres website has a comprehensive list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling. The Ending Violence Association of Canada website has links to helplines, support services and locations across Canada that offer sexual assault kits. Indian Residential School Survivors Society crisis lines: +1 866 925 4419 or +1 800 721 0066 (24/7). Toronto Rape Crisis Centre crisis line: +1 416 597 8808 (24/7). Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: +1 833 900 1010 (24/7). Trans Lifeline: +1 877 330 6366. Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 988 (24/7). Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre for current and former Canadian Armed Forces members: +1 844 750 1648. Read about your rights as a victim on the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime website.
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