Family of woman killed in Mexico forced to create new Facebook campaign group after copyright infringement report

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — The family of a Dawson Creek woman who was killed in Mexico in 2023 had to create a new campaign group on Facebook after the former one was taken down. 

The ‘Justice for Kiara: Trevor Agnew’ Facebook group was started by Kiara Agnew’s family after the former one – ‘Justice for Kiara’ – was taken down by the Meta-owned social media platform. 

Kiara Agnew, 23, was killed in Mexico in 2023 at her hotel near Playa del Carmen.    

Agnew’s boyfriend – Ryan Friesen – was initially found ‘not guilty’ by the Mexican courts, but this decision was later overturned and he has now been declared ‘guilty’ of femicide.

As Friesen appeals this decision, he remains in Canada. 

The Agnew family has been using the ‘Justice for Kiara’ Facebook group to share updates about the case and protests being held. 

Denise Brunsdon, partner for Bennett Jones LLP and Friesen’s lawyer, recently shared a statement regarding Friesen’s appeal. 

The ‘Justice for Kiara’ group shared the statement in a post, which was taken down.  

Naomi Agnew, Kiara’s stepmother, told Energeticcity.ca the group was taken down two weeks ago. 

She said: “They [Facebook] took the page down citing the statement from Ryan’s lawyer…which we shared without any changes, they cited as copyright [infringement]. 

“They [the lawyers] have filed a copyright infringement against us with Facebook for our page.” 

Tanya Agnew, Kiara’s aunt, said she received an email explaining why the group was taken down. 

Naomi said: “She [Tanya] filed a complaint and disputed it. She talked to someone from Facebook who said that they were going to look into it.

“We’ve been waiting for information back from Facebook because they are working on [trying] to figure out why it was taken down and how to go about restoring it. 

“It was a statement that she [Brunsdon] released publicly. We didn’t change it.” 

Multiple protests are being organized in Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Edmonton, Moncton, New Brunswick and Ontario asking the police to detain Ryan Friesen as he appeals the ‘guilty’ verdict. 

Tanya has also launched a petition to ‘enforce’ the guilty conviction of Friesen and it has received more than 4,000 signatures as of February 6th. 

To view the petition, click here. 

Energeticcity.ca reached out to Brunsdon for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.