NDP to introduce legislation limiting non-disclosure agreements

Halifax - At a press conference at Province House today, the NDP announced a plan to introduce legislation to restrict the use of non-disclosure agreements. The legislation is modeled after a bill passed by the PEI legislature.

“Too often, non-disclosure agreements are being used to conceal potential crimes, harassment, and abuse. It's illegal but that doesn’t stop it from happening. The legislation I’m introducing today will be a first step toward ending these harmful practices,” said Claudia Chender, NDP Justice spokesperson.

Equity Watch and Avalon Sexual Assault Centre have been raising awareness about the use of NDAs for a number of years:

“Way too many of the people who come to Equity Watch for help have signed or will be pressured to sign NDAs. This is a feminist issue as the victims are mostly women. If an employer or an individual does bad things, it is in the public interest that the perpetrator is stopped and sanctioned, and that those actions are publicized so that the bad things cannot continue. But the signing of a private NDA agreement puts an abrupt end to that public process,” said Judy Haiven, a spokesperson for Equity Watch.

“We have a responsibility to survivors to change the response to sexual violence and harassment by eliminating the misuse of NDAs. The use of NDAs is deeply embedded in our culture and built into our hierarchical structures of institutions. Survivors are left experiencing further trauma-related impacts of sanctuary trauma, secondary wounding, and institutional betrayal. We need to stop protecting perpetrators at the expense of survivors,” said Kristina Fifield, a Trauma Therapist with Avalon Sexual Assault Centre. “The misuse of NDAs creates a culture of silence for survivors, this is unacceptable. We have a collective responsibility to protect, support and provide safe spaces for survivors.”

Chender will introduce the bill for first reading shortly after 1 pm today in the Legislature. The Houston government has said they are looking at this issue and plan to introduce legislation in the Fall.

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