Are some types of slander automatically presumed to cause damage in Ontario?

Yes. Certain recognized categories of slander are treated as automatically presumed to cause damage, without the plaintiff needing to prove actual financial loss, unlike ordinary slander claims which traditionally required that proof before they could succeed. These recognized categories generally include accusing someone of committing a crime, alleging a contagious or serious disease affecting how others would interact with them, statements damaging someone's professional or business reputation in their trade or occupation, and certain other historically recognized categories of this kind.

If a slanderous statement falls within one of these categories, it is treated more like libel for the purpose of proving damages, meaning presumed harm applies just as it would for a written or broadcast defamatory statement rather than requiring separate proof of loss. Outside these specific categories, ordinary spoken defamation traditionally still required proof of actual loss to succeed, which is one reason correctly categorizing the exact type of statement involved matters early when evaluating a potential slander claim.