Can my name be published in the media if I am a victim?
Short answer
In Canada, section 486.4 of the Criminal Code allows the court to make an order banning the publication of any information that could identify a victim or a witness. For the sexual offences listed there, the order is mandatory when it is requested.
In detail
Section 486.4 covers, among others, the sexual offences set out in sections 151, 152, 153, 271 to 273 and several others. For those offences, the court must make the order if it is requested. For other offences, it may make one, in particular where the victim is a minor.
The order prohibits publishing or broadcasting, in any way at all, any information that would identify the protected person. That applies to the media, but also to posts on social media.
The law provides exceptions. The ban does not apply where the information is disclosed in the course of the administration of justice for a purpose other than informing the public, nor where the protected person discloses their own information themselves — unless doing so reveals the identity of another protected person.
What to document
Keep a copy of the publication ban and note the date it was made. If you see a publication that identifies you, document it immediately: a dated screenshot, the full web address, the name of the account or the outlet, the date and the time. This content disappears quickly.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.