The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed a bid to appeal by accusers of former University of British Columbia writing professor and novelist Steven Galloway, paving the way for his defamation case against them to go to trial.

Galloway sued several people in B.C. Supreme Court in 2018, alleging he was defamed with false sexual assault allegations by fellow professors, a former student and others who repeated the statements on social media and elsewhere.

Galloway鈥檚 lawyer, Dan Burnett, said Thursday that the high court鈥檚 decision was a 鈥渞elief鈥� to his client, who wants to 鈥渃lear his name鈥� after more than five years of legal wrangling trying to get his defamation lawsuit to trial.

鈥淪teven can finally move his case forward to a trial and have his claim heard,鈥� Burnett said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a very determined man who has been badly wronged. He has stuck it out and he will stick it out to the end and have at long last his reputation finally cleared when the matter gets finally to a trial where the truth can properly come out.鈥�

Galloway is the author of novels including 鈥淭he Cellist of Sarajevo鈥� and 鈥淭he Confabulist鈥�.

He was also the chair of the creative writing program at UBC, but was suspended and later fired after the allegations against him emerged.

Thursday鈥檚 ruling by Canada鈥檚 high court, which also awarded Galloway costs, effectively upholds a B.C. appeal court finding in January that the alleged defamatory statements were not protected by the province鈥檚 Protection of Public Participation Act.

The appeals had hinged on B.C.鈥檚 law against 鈥渟trategic lawsuits鈥� which aim to 鈥渟ilence or deter鈥� commentary on matters of public interest.

Burnett said getting Galloway鈥檚 case to trial is now a priority after clearing the high court.

His client鈥檚 reputation had been 鈥渄evastated鈥� by the allegations and 鈥渢he legal process is how you address that,鈥� he said.

鈥淪teven鈥檚 reputation and life were devastated by criminal allegations that most of us, I think, could not even imagine having to suffer through,鈥� Burnett said.

B.C. Supreme Court judge Elaine Adair had ruled in December 2021 against arguments by former student Chelsea Rooney that accusations of sexual assault must be protected speech, true or not, and 鈥渞egardless of the circumstances in which the statement was published.鈥�

鈥淭here would be no legal consequences of any kind attached to publicly calling someone a rapist, completely outside of any formal reporting, and no obligation ever to prove the statement was true,鈥� Adair said.

A three-judge panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal then agreed with Adair鈥檚 鈥渃ompelling reasons,鈥� saying she had been 鈥渨ell aware of the public interest and the importance of encouraging reporting of sexual offences.鈥�

鈥淪he also recognized that there cannot be an absolute protection surrounding the makers of such statements, regardless of the circumstances or the truth,鈥� the appeal court found.

The appeal court found Rooney鈥檚 鈥渂arrage of tweets alleging misconduct鈥� against Galloway hindered his 鈥渙pportunity to rehabilitate his reputation.鈥�

Lawyers for the defendants Rooney, Keith Maillard, Annabel Lyon, Marcelle Kosman, Mandi Gray, Kiera Anderson, Ari Rombough and a former student identified as A.B. whose name is protected by a publication ban, did not immediately provide responses on behalf of their clients.