Rehtaeh Parsons – Case Timeline

2011

November 12 (Sat.) – Date of making child pornography incident and sexual assault.Nov. 14 (Mon.) Rehtaeh attends school

November 15-16 – Rehtaeh doesn’t attend school

November 17 – Rehtaeh learns about picture through a friend. Rehtaeh retrieves her belongings from the school for her transfer. Students
calling her names.

November 18 – Rehtaeh no longer registered at Cole Harbour High School. Rehtaeh reaches out to her mother and aunt. Mental Health Mobile Crisis
Team called by family.

November 19 – Complaint by Leah Parsons to the RCMP. RCMP Cst. Kim Murphy is dispatched to take the complaint. Initial interview of Rehtaeh conducted by Cst. Murphy at Cole Harbour Detachment. Handwritten notes, not recorded.

2012

January 12 – Rehtaeh no longer registered at Dartmouth High School.

March – Rehtaeh attends the Emergency Department of the IWK Health Centre. Remains there for 5 weeks.

April 20 – Rehtaeh discharged from IWK; exchanges between IWK and Prince Andrews re: education plan for her return to school.

September – Rehtaeh is registered at Citadel High School for the new semester and resides with her father. Glen Canning discussed the issues Rehtaeh was dealing with at length with the school.

October 31 – Sgt. Legere speaks with Leah Parsons and updates her on the status of the investigation. He informs her that following a Crown consultation, there is insufficient evidence to proceed with sexual assault charges.

November 14 – Sgt. Legere reaches Leah Parsons and advises her that no child pornography charges are going to be laid. He explains how police consulted with the Crown and why they would not proceed with child pornography or sexual assault charges. He advises that the boys’ families will be contacted and that the boys will be cautioned.

2013

April 7, 2013 — Seventeen-year-old Rehtaeh Parsons is taken off life-support and dies three days after she tried to kill herself. 

April 9 — Leah Parsons speaks out about her daughter’s death, saying she is dissatisfied with the RCMP’s investigation of allegations her daughter was sexually assaulted. Facebook messages sent by male involved with assault to Leah Parsons.

April 12 — The RCMP says it is reopening its investigation of the Parsons case after receiving new evidence, just hours after RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson expresses concerns about “vigilante justice” following the teenager’s death.

April 15 — Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter says the province will launch an independent review of the RCMP’s original investigation of allegations made by Parsons.

May 10 — Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with the relatives of four teenage girls who died after being cyberbullied or lured online. Parsons’ father Glen Canning says Harper promised to take action during the meeting.

June 6 — The Nova Scotia government appoints a director to lead a team of five investigators who will investigate cyberbullying. The creation of the team was announced following Parsons’ death.

August 7 — A new law takes effect in Nova Scotia allowing people to sue if they or their children are being cyberbullied. Victims can also seek a protection order that could place restrictions on or help identify the cyberbully.

August 8 — Two 18-year-old men are charged in the Parsons case. One is charged with two counts of distributing child pornography and the other is charged with making and distributing child pornography.

August 12 — A former Ontario prosecutor is appointed by the Nova Scotia government to conduct an independent review of the handling of the case by police and the provincial Public Prosecution Service. Murray Segal is asked to make recommendations by April 1, but the deadline is later delayed until court cases against the two teens are settled.

November 20 — The federal government introduces a wide-ranging bill designed to make it illegal to distribute intimate images without consent and easier to get such images scrubbed off the Internet.

Dec. 11 — The Nova Scotia government says it will boost the number of adolescent psychiatrists after a report highlighted deficiencies in the mental health care of young people who are seeking help at increasing rates. A review of the mental health system was conducted after an earlier report into Rehtaeh’s case raised concerns about the IWK Health Centre in Halifax.

Sept. 22, 2014 — One of the accused pleads guilty to making child pornography. The Crown drops a second charge of distributing child pornography. He is later given a conditional discharge.

Nov. 24 — The second young man pleads guilty to one count of distributing child pornography.

Dec. 17 — Nova Scotia’s attorney general says no one will be prosecuted for identifying Rehtaeh Parsons as the victim in the child pornography case. A judge placed the mandatory ban on Parsons’ identity in the case of two young men who were charged with child pornography offences.

Jan. 15, 2015 — The second 20-year-old man is ordered to attend counselling, not contact Parsons’s family, not drink or possess alcohol and submit a DNA sample, among other conditions, after pleading guilty to distributing a sexually graphic image of Parsons.

Aug. 25 — Nova Scotia’s anti-cyberbullying law drafted in response to the Parsons’ case is challenged in court as unconstitutional, with a lawyer arguing it needs to be rewritten because it is too broad and allows anything online that hurts somebody’s feelings to be considered an offence.

Oct. 8 — A review of the police and Crown’s handling of the case finds it was reasonable of the Crown to conclude there was no realistic prospect that sexual assault charges would result in conviction. Murray Segal, a former chief prosecutor in Ontario, says the investigation was diligent and thorough but took too long and there wasn’t enough attention paid to the photograph of Rehtaeh being assaulted.