NDAs: How a legal document designed to protect trade secrets has morphed into a tool to silence survivors
Susan MacRae never thought that at the age of 55, she would have to rely on her mother to be her voice: “As an adult …I can't believe that I'm at this age and I still cannot say all of my experiences,” she told W5.
Sitting in her mother’s home in Kelowna, B.C., Susan is legally barred from sharing details about what happened to her as a child. She signed away her voice 25 years ago when she put her signature on a non-disclosure agreement as part of a settlement in a civil suit against her own father.
A non-disclosure agreement is a legal document that limits the sharing of allegations in the public realm. In Susan’s case, her NDA legally prevents her from sharing any of her alleged experiences in public.
When Susan’s father passed away in 2015, she thought her NDA would die with him, but she was wrong. Susan went to 23 different lawyers to try to have the legal document lifted, to no avail.
Susan Macrae, who put her signature on a non-disclosure agreement as part of a settlement in a civil suit against her own father, speaks with W5. “It's kind of the legal system now keeping me silent, which makes no sense. It feels like I can't move forward…and it feels a bit frozen like a part of me is frozen,” she said.
Susan shared her traumatic experience with her 83-year-old mother Marie, well before the NDA was signed. Now Marie is sharing that family secret, speaking out on behalf of her daughter, exposing not only Susan’s allegations of sexual abuse, but also lobbying members of parliament across the country to legislate an end to the so called “hush money” agreements.
“I'm doing this not just for my daughter, but for people; victims who do not have the support,” Marie told W5.
Non-disclosure agreements were first used in the 1980s to prevent employees from taking trade secrets from one business to another. Now they’ve become ubiquitous in civil cases across North America and are standard conditions of settlement in cases ranging from workplace terminations, product liability, and sexual abuse or harassment allegations, even in racial or gender discrimination cases.
NDAs are the secret weapon that have protected disgraced movie mogul Harvey Wienstein and convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein. But there is a growing movement to end the overuse of NDAs. Canadian lawyer Julie Macfarlane is one of the founders of an advocacy group called Can't Buy My Silence - A Global Campaign.
“NDAs began in the 1980s with the tech bubble,” she told W5. “Now apparently every form of misconduct is a trade secret…and it's just become a gradual creep…and we are seeing non-disclosure agreements, some lawyers estimate in around 95 per cent of all civil settlement agreements.”
Julie Macfarlane helped draft groundbreaking legislation that puts Canada on the world stage when it comes to limiting the use of NDAs (W5)Macfarlane helped draft groundbreaking legislation that puts Canada on the world stage when it comes to limiting the use of NDAs.
“We now see the first piece of legislation banning NDAs in Canada being passed in Prince Edward Island, Canada's smallest province. But small is mighty in this case,” she said. Macfarlane says B.C., Manitoba and Nova Scotia are now studying the groundbreaking legislation.
Susan MacRae felt silenced by childhood trauma, and then coerced into silence as an adult when she signed the NDA 25 years ago.
“The whole process would have ended right there if I hadn't signed that document. Even as a child, I knew that there was never going to be any justice. That's why I stayed silent as a child.”
“Hush Money” airs Saturday at 7pm local on CTV
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire' are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Premier Legault reiterates that McGill pro-Palestinian camp must be dismantled
Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
Drew Carey is never quitting 'The Price Is Right'
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Video shows suspect setting Toronto-area barbershop on fire
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
'I have the will to live': N.B. woman needs double lung transplant
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
Hulk Hogan, hurricanes and a blockbuster recording: A week in review of the Trump hush money trial
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.
Local Spotlight
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Canada's oldest hat store still going strong after 90 years
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Road closed in Oak Bay, B.C., so elephant seal can cross
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
B.C. breweries take home awards at World Beer Cup
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Kitchener family says their 10-year-old needs life-saving drug that cost $600,000
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.