HALIFAX – There was a rumble in the Nova Scotia legislature on Friday as survivors of sexual assault lambasted the justice minister over mistakes initially made to a bill allowing victims to sue their abusers.
Amendments, announced Friday, to the Limitations of Actions Act now remove time limits and allow survivors to pursue and sue their abuser for historical sexual assaults. It initially did not allow for retroactive action, which some other provinces permit.
Justice minister Lena Diab admitted that her department fell short and made a research mistake when preparing the bill last fall.
“That was a failing of our department and we greatly regret that it occurred,” she said.
When the omission of retroactivity was pointed out by opposition parties in the fall, Diab said she wanted to do due diligence before making changes to the legislation.
Diab said she has taken steps within her office to ensure the mistake does not happen again but would not elaborate on what happened to the staff member or members who made the error.
“A mistake happened. People are human. It was missed,” she said.
However, that apology was not good enough for Dale Sutherland, who was abused by Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh, 71.
MacIntosh is now in jail in Nepal for sexually abusing a minor. He had been accused of sexually abusing boys in the 1970s. The allegations surfaced in 1995 when MacIntosh was living in India, but he was not extradited until 2007. His trials in Nova Scotia did not start until 2010, however, and they were overturned in 2013 when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the Crown took too long to bring the accused sex offender to trail.
“A mistake was made. I think whoever made the mistake should be held accountable,” Sutherland said.
“I’m not convinced you guys know what you’re doing. I’m just not convinced.”
“We’re sorry as a province. I do hope this can be a beginning for you today,” Diab said to him.
Sutherland said the bill initially stung because it did not allow him to make MacIntosh accountable for his actions.
“How dare someone tell me I can’t sue the person who raped me. How dare something say that,” he said.
Bob Martin is fellow survivor of sexual assault at the hands of MacIntosh. He and Sutherland had placed an ad in the Chronicle Herald newspaper in November calling the government out on the lack of retroactivity on the legislation.
“She could have called down that person. Someone in her office made a terrible mistake and they’re gone and we’re sorry,” said Martin.
“But for her to say, ‘We had to look at this, look at other provinces’ … she didn’t look or know about other provinces in November until we took out that ad.”
Despite the heated exchange Friday morning, both Sutherland and Martin are pleased with the amendments, which were passed into law.
“I’m glad for other victims. They’re going to be allowed to sue their perpetrators. I’m really glad. MacIntosh knows we’re onto him. Are we going to sue him? Of course we’re going to sue him,” said Sutherland.
“This has never been about money for us. It’s just doing the right now.”
Martin hopes the law makes abusers think twice about their actions.
“There’s a big law out there now that’s going to catch up to you,” he said.
Opposition reaction to the news
PC justice critic Allan MacMaster said Diab should have been more forthcoming about whoever made the error and what the repercussions were.
“It makes us wonder, was there something else in play that was causing the government to want to block this from happening?” he said.
“The problem when there are no consequences is you don’t get change and things don’t get fixed.”
During Question Period, MacMaster asked Diab to take full responsibility for the errors made in the bill, which she did.
Premier declines to comment on discipline
Premier Stephen McNeil said there was no question an egregious error had been made.
“There had been an analysis of legislation across the country that was done a number of years ago that was not updated,” he said.
“It’s inexcusable that that took place, that the information the minister was going with was outdated.”
McNeil said the situation has been dealt with internally but would not comment on whether anyone had or will be disciplined.
“It’s a human resource issue in the Department of Justice. They’re dealing with that. It’s being dealt with internally.”
Moving forward
The premier wanted to focus on the future rather than the mistakes made in the past several months.
“This is an important day for our province. It’s an important day for victims who were fighting government for a very long time that this piece of legislation will address the issues they brought forward and provide them with the opportunity to seek justice,” McNeil said.
Jackie Stevens, the executive director of the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, said the ability to retroactively sue an abuser is a way for survivors to seek closure and have recognition of what was done to them.
“People, for various reasons, aren’t always able to come forward, particularly when we’re talking about children, they may not understand right away what has happened. There’s fear,” she said.
“It takes time for people in terms of healing, being in a place to be able to take action. Any kind of resource or trying to heal takes time.”
Stevens said she hopes the new law sends a message.
“There is going to be accountability and even when people feel they’re above the law or the law wasn’t able to address it, this is another way maybe they can be held accountable.”
With files from The Canadian Press
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