STORY 84

When I was a little girl, I was sexually assaulted by a member of the church. I filed a civil suit in the early 1990s, and we went to mediation in the late 1990s. I signed a NDA, which were pretty standard at the time. I think that because it was before the internet, I was not aware that I had the option to perhaps challenge that. Besides, the church had a lot of power and control in society in those days. Following the signing of the NDA, I found out that a bishop in the United States declared all NDAs null and void. As a result, I wrote to the bishop of the diocese of a Canadian city and requested to be released from my NDA because I was keeping a secret that wasn’t mine to keep. The request was approved. It was then that I reported childhood sexual abuse by a member of the chruch to the police, and a criminal investigation ensued. Following the trial, I learned that a police report from the 1960s had been misfiled. I was successful in reopening my civil suit. The only requirement upon signing the document during mediation was that I not disclose the amount of money I received (except to family and professionals (therapists, lawyers, doctors, police, etc.). In hindsight, I now realize that the original NDA did not preclude me from going to the police. I was naïve back then, and there was little media or other awareness around NDAs. The internet, IMHO, has helped educate survivors, and helped us to organize (and fight back).