Chelsea Rooney has issued a public apology in the days before a B.C. Supreme Court defamation trial involving former UBC professor Steven Galloway.
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Chelsea Rooney, one of several people who have accused former University of British Columbia writing professor Steven Galloway of sexual assault, has issued a lengthy apology days before her defamation trial is expected to begin in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday.
In the apology, Rooney says she communicated serious allegations against Galloway and that she was involved in collecting complaints in an attempt to build a case against him.
She also says the communications she circulated caused others to believe the allegations were true, and she is aware Galloway firmly denies that he sexually assaulted a student identified only as A.B.
Much of Rooney’s apology appears online, alongside eight other statements posted on a website called gallowayapologies.com from people who say they regret communications or actions that accused Galloway.
Galloway was never charged. He was fired from his position as a writing professor, and a report by retired B.C. Supreme Court judge Mary Ellen Boyd, commissioned by the university, concluded the claims against him were unsubstantiated.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed an appeal in 2024 by Galloway’s accusers of a B.C. Court of Appeal decision, clearing the way for his defamation case to proceed to trial.
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