Bear River's gossip blog grips Nova Scotia village in controversy

A fight in the Nova Scotia village of Bear River over a controversial tell-all gossip blog has escalated to the point where some residents are now asking for a federal law to protect them.

Using malicious language to chronicle the lives of those targeted, The Bear River Tides compares people to Stalin and Hitler, while getting uncomfortably personal with details of alleged affairs and secret conversations overheard in local shops.

Detractors call the blog a "cancer in a community," and at least one person says they will have to move away from Bear River because of it.

Another target, Susan Friend, says the only protection from The Bear River Tides, aside from hiring a civil lawyer, would be for the federal government to intervene with a new cyberbullying law.

She wants a law that would allow authorities to intervene in cases deemed to be cyberbullying, similar to the legislation in Nova Scotia recently struck down by the courts.

"It's a very expensive process to take on anyone in a civil court action like defamation or libel," she said. "We'd be looking at tens of thousands of dollars to do this, to take on this kind of suit, whereas a federal law would actually give you some guidelines."

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The blog focuses on the roughly 20 people who sit on the village's board of trade, a volunteer organization that represents the community in lieu of a local government.

It is written by Zoe Onysko. She tells CBC she started the blog six years ago when she says she was kicked off the board following a dispute over the decision to demolish a local windmill.

"My feeling about the blog has always been that everything I write is completely true," says Onysko.

"If they don't like it, they shouldn't be doing the things that shouldn't be reported about. And if they have any proof that what I write isn't true, please show it to me and I will remove whatever it is that was wrong and make an apology."

'I probably did get a little emotional'

She also admits she has taken her blog too far at times.

"I probably did get a little emotional and use adjectives towards them that I probably shouldn't have used. A lot of that stuff that I have put in that regard has been removed from the blog," she said.

An RCMP spokesman told CBC police are aware of the blog and "are monitoring the situation."

Kelly Foxton, a former president of the board of trade and target of The Bear River Tides, says it's impossible to know what she will be confronted with in the blog.

She says she's been accused of things she never did and it's reached the point where she is selling her home and leaving the community.

"These day to day moments became haunted with always looking over my shoulder and wondering where it was coming from next," she says.

Court action

Last year, Foxton and other board of trade members went to Nova Scotia's CyberSCAN unit, which was tasked with investigating cyberbullying. On Nov. 18, 2015, Onysko was ordered to take down her blog.

But three weeks later, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge struck down Nova Scotia's Cyber-Safety Act, calling it a "colossal failure" and ruling it infringes on charter rights.  

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said the province is still figuring out its next steps, but the situation remains a priority.

"When the CyberSCAN law came along and that was our opportunity to have this blog taken down, it was just wonderful," said Flora Doehler, a board of trade member whose husband is the director.

"By the end of three weeks, when we Googled our names and they didn't come up anymore, that was pretty exciting."

The Bear River Tides returns

Immediately following the court ruling, however, Onysko put the blog back online.

"The cyberbully law was found to be unconstitutional," she said. "If they call me a cyberbully, it's basically slanderous because there is no such thing according to the law."

A counter blog has since surfaced in the community, called The Bear River Tides Truth, which targets Onysko.

On Monday morning, both blogs had been switched to "protected" mode, meaning only invited people can see the blog.

'Cancer in a community'

In an email statement to CBC, the writer would not identity themselves and said "none of us are willing to speak, put our face out there or put our names out there.

"We are embarrassed for 2 reasons:1.) That is had to come to this and 2.) that we had to stoop to Zoe's level to fight back. We can assure you, however, that we are not, nor have we ever been, members of the Bear River Board of Trade."

Onysko says she makes a point not to read the counter blog and calls what's on it "lies."

Meanwhile, those caught in the middle argue it's not easy to sit back in silence.

"You don't want people to think badly of your little village, but it comes to a point when you also don't want this cancer in a community to continue," says Doehler.