Judge warns against ‘rumours and innuendo’ before Galloway trial witness testifies

VANCOUVER — The judge in the trial of author Steven Galloway’s defamation lawsuit has cautioned that testimony from a University of British Columbia official can’t refer to “rumours and innuendo” about Galloway.

Justice Neena Sharma says potentially inadmissible and prejudicial evidence could come out in the testimony of Gage Averill, dean of arts at the time Galloway was suspended from the university in 2015 amid unproven allegations of sexual assault from a former student.

Galloway accuses the former student, with whom he had an affair, and others of spreading defamatory allegations.

Averill, now a provost of the university, was set to testify in the afternoon.

Galloway says the allegations by the ex-student known as A.B. are false and ended up ruining his writing career, and the court heard that Averill had to be legally compelled by a subpoena to testify at the trial.

Sydney Gomez, a lawyer for A.B., told the court that factors that caused the university to publish a statement about Galloway’s suspension were of “fundamental importance” to her defence.

A.B., whose name is under a publication ban, is not testifying at the trial and is not defending her allegations against Galloway as true.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2026.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press