e-4961

Petition to the Government of Canada

• Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) permanently gag victims and prohibit them from speaking to family, friends, and even therapists about their experiences, or warning others about perpetrators and abusive organizations;
• NDAs allow abusers, some of whom have acted criminally, to keep their jobs or move to other employers with impunity;
• NDAs protect the reputation of perpetrators and/or abusive organizations;
• NDAs chill the climate for anyone wishing to speak up about wrongdoing (Can’t Buy My Silence data shows that 33% of people who consider making a complaint don’t proceed because they anticipate being pressured to sign an NDA);
• NDAs leave victims living in fear of breaking the agreements, and in the process damage their mental health; and
• NDAs force tens of thousands of Canadians — most of them from marginalized communities — into a lifetime of silence every year.