Chelsea Hillier sentenced to house arrest over failing to retract statements against Carleton instructor

The daughter of Randy Hillier, who was ordered to pay a Carleton University instructor close to $100,000 in damages for defamation, has been sentenced to 90 days of house arrest for being found in contempt of court.

The defamation case stemmed from tweets Chelsea Hillier had written about Esther Post, which a judge dubbed a malicious campaign to bully the instructor with false accusations.

“It’s destroyed me. It’s been horrible,” Post said in an exclusive interview with CityNews. “I cannot imagine a worse accusation than being blamed for what she accused me of and repeating it [in] so many tweets. And having her followers repeating it over and over again.”

“I cannot imagine anyone who would not come out of this mentally and emotionally really scared,” Post added.

The two had initially been friends, with Hillier even serving as a bridesmaid in Post’s wedding, but political differences during the COVID-19 pandemic drove them apart.

Hillier’s tweets described Post as a violent white nationalist; she even shared her wedding photos, calling her a gaslighter and an abuser. Hillier also alleged Post had been drugging students and had been sleeping with students in parking lots.

That is when she decided to sue Hillier for defamation. Hillier did not file a statement of defence in the lawsuit, which led to a default judgment.

In a scathing ruling, Justice Sally Gomery ordered Hillier to retract her statements, post a public apology, and pay her almost $100,000. Hillier declared bankruptcy instead and even repeated some of the allegations.

After Hillier failed to retract the statements, Post was forced to bring forward a motion of contempt.

On August 2, Hillier posted the formal retraction to a new Twitter account with just 20 followers, a far cry from the 9,300 followers Hillier had when she first made the allegations against Post. That first account was suspended after the Carleton instructor reported her tweets.

“I have been ordered by Justice Gomery to retract statements I made on Twitter about Esther Post,” read her tweet.

But, due to the delay in the retraction, Hillier was still found in contempt of court. On top of the house arrest, she will also be on probation for nine months and must do 130 hours of community service.

“Hopefully [it’s] a strong enough sentence at least to give her the message that what she did was horribly wrong. She shouldn’t do it again to anyone else,” said Post, admitting she still doesn’t have the closure she’s sought.

“I was so excited for this to be done, and it doesn’t feel done. I don’t know when I’ll have closure. I don’t know what closure will look like or how it will happen.”

Post still owes $32,000 in legal fees, as the entire lawsuit cost her $54,000. Despite Hillier being ordered to pay $17,000 of Post’s lawyer costs, Post is unsure if she’ll ever see a dime.

“Given her financial situation, unless someone I don’t know lends the money, I don’t know where she’s going to come up with that, certainly in 30 days,” Post admitted.

Post said she has become “unbelievably disillusioned with the justice system throughout the process.”

“The idea that someone has to pay $50,000 out of pocket just to get the person to remove these defamatory tweets. It’s ridiculous all that I’ve gotten out of it are a few pieces of paper, and she’s stuck in her house for 75 days,” shared Post.

A GoFundMe donations page has helped Post cover some of her initial costs as she navigated the defamation case, and she wouldn’t have been able to pursue legal action if not for the assistance.

“I’m sure that there are a lot of individuals who’ve gone through something similar who just sit back and take it because they don’t have the money to go to a lawyer,” Post said, telling CityNews she doesn’t regret going through the process despite the toll it has taken on her mental health.

“I couldn’t let this stand … I can’t imagine anyone being accused of that and letting it stand and not fighting back,” Post acknowledged.

“But it shouldn’t have to be this difficult. It certainly shouldn’t have to be this costly. It shouldn’t have to drag on for 11 months.”