NDAS unfairly silence victims
Questions surround government’s stifling of Bill 144
Right now in Nova Scotia, sexual violence survivors are forced to suffer in silence and carry the burden of their experiences alone.
Not because of shame or stigma but because they are bound by nondisclosure agreements (NDAS) that they were forced to sign in order to receive the settlements they rightfully deserve.
This is one aspect of ongoing oppression of sexual violence survivors that the provincial government has the power to stop but continues to delay for reasons that must be questioned.
UNIVERSITY POLICY
I have been fighting for survivors’ rights since I was 19, when I was recruited for a committee tasked with rewriting the sexual violence policy at my school, Acadia University in Wolfville. The committee needed a student representative and I was zealous about equity issues and had the skills to understand legal terminology.
I believed I was signing up for a few meetings but, in reality, I was beginning a two-year battle to protect and uplift survivors of sexual violence.
Most of my spare time was devoted to researching policy and becoming increasingly enraged about the lack of progress. I left meetings bordering on tears of rage. The longer we debated semantics, the longer survivors went unprotected.
I understood that the traditional university system was not going to solve our problems, so why couldn’t those in positions of power do the same? This is a question I now find myself asking about the Nova Scotia government’s decision to stifle Bill 144.
CENTRING SURVIVORS
I finally gave voice to the main issue: we were never going to find a solution within our existing system because universities are structured to perpetuate hierarchies of power, therefore perpetuating sexualized violence and protecting the people who commit it. The issue was the institutionalized violence and oppression; after that, we made real progress.
After years of effort and support from the right people, the committee created an entirely new model and office to handle sexual violence in a survivor-centred manner.
There were roadblocks when getting the policy put into practice but with co-ordinated support from the student union and student body, Acadia decided to proceed.
The release of the new policy had immediate positive effects. For the next several months, people, sometimes in tears, approached me to thank me for what I helped change. It meant so much to see the community I fought for value the work we did.
In December, Acadia University and the University of King’s College were the first universities in Canada to publicly pledge not to use NDAS to silence and further harm victims.
It is time to challenge the provincial government to do the right thing to protect Nova Scotians.
ABUSE OF NDAS
Sexual violence is not limited to university campuses, but if our post-secondary institutions have recognized the importance of these changes to support survivors, why can’t our government?
Advocates are pushing to ban the misuse of NDAS in Nova Scotia. NDAS were initially created to protect industry secrets. However, they have become a tool to perpetuate mass abuse by powerful people and organizations.
Mandatory settlement NDAS are the reason that powerful abusers can continue harming time after time, binding survivors who could otherwise sound the alarm and protect others from being victimized.
Unregulated use of NDAS is precisely how criminals like Harvey Weinstein, Larry Nassar, Jerry Sandusky, Jeffrey Epstein and R. Kelly, among countless others, continue their abuse.
STOLEN AGENCY
In no other crime would we propose protecting the perpetrator over the victim, yet that is exactly what requiring NDAS does. It silences the survivor while empowering and protecting the perpetrator.
This isn’t to say NDAS don’t have a time and place; protecting industry secrets is important in a competitive market, and they can help keep employee information private.
Can’t Buy My Silence is an organization dedicated to banning the misuse of NDAS, with misuse being the key word. No one is suggesting a total ban of NDAS, but we are pushing for the end to compulsory NDA usage in harassment and assault settlements. This isn’t about taking away the possibility of NDAS in all cases, it’s about returning choice to the people who had their agency stolen from them.
No one can heal if they are forced into silence. It’s long overdue that we demand our government step up, do their jobs and protect vulnerable people instead of the reputations of the powerful.