'People often sign these NDAs under extreme duress, and where abusive power dynamics exist with their employer throughout the complaint or grievance process'
A number of experts are calling on the Nova Scotia government to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in the province.
“Every year in Nova Scotia and across Canada, thousands of victims of harassment, discrimination and other abuses are being silenced through NDAs,” said Dr. Julie Macfarlane, Co-Founder of the “Can't Buy My Silence” campaign and Emerita Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Windsor.
“That silencing causes deep damage to the victims themselves, and to society as a whole, because it protects perpetrators and abusive organizations who then go on to abuse others. It’s a cycle that has to stop. There is simply no good reason not to take action.”
Kristina Fifield, trauma therapist, regularly sees the ongoing trauma impacts of NDAs firsthand.
“People often sign these NDAs under extreme duress, and where abusive power dynamics exist with their employer throughout the complaint or grievance process. Survivors who are silenced by NDAs live with intense trauma symptoms and responses. They live with the inability to warn others and are left with the burden of responsibility of needing to protect others. They internalize intense guilt and shame for failing to protect others,” she said.
“The betrayal trauma runs deep and can last a lifetime because of the ongoing injustices that exist with the abusive use of NDAs.”
Now it’s time to end the epidemic of silence that comes part and parcel with cases of abuse, said Macfarlane.
According to the Can’t Buy My Silence campaign, NDAs are often used to silence survivors of sexual assault, harassment and other abuses.
“They are also regularly imposed on employees who launch complaints about racism — including anti-Indigenous racism — as well as discrimination against pregnant women, people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQI+ workers and many others,” it said.
However, anti-NDA bills have been tabled in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia, and passed in PEI.
Macfarlane and Fifield will be among the guest speakers at the “Silencing Survivors is Violence: Why Nova Scotia Needs to Ban Abusive NDAs” event on Sept. 23.
The event comes on the heels of last week’s passage of a bill declaring domestic violence an epidemic in the province.
Previously, looking to end the misuse of NDAs in the workplace, the Canadian Bar Association vowed to advocate and lobby for legislation and policies around the agreements at the federal, provincial and territorial levels.
