On Feb 16, 2020 I wrote about the differences between Small Claims Court and Criminal Court in Canada from the perspective of a victim of sexual assault. That is, my own perspective. On January 27, 2020 I arrived at the Small Claims Court in Halifax, Nova Scotia to seek restitution for all of the things that the criminal justice system does not care about from the man who sexually assaulted me.

My decision to file in small claims court was a difficult one for me. First, there are rules that, in order to file within small claims court, the thing that happened that you are filing for has to have been ‘discovered’ in the last 2 years. In other words, you have to prove that you became aware about the wrong (aka: discovery) that you are seeking compensation for (through the legal system) within the last two years. I was nearing the two year mark and had a crunch in terms of timeline. I had to decide. Was I going to file now or forever lose my opportunity?

However, I knew that once I filed, it meant that I would have to see him, at some point, at the courthouse. I did not want to see him. I wanted and still want nothing to do with him. But, what I was personally not able to ignore was the fact that he took so much from me and I wanted an official record of what he had done. Having that record for me, was worth potentially having to see him (there was a chance he would not show up to court …). Having this record, for me, was worth the work and time it took me to prepare for a small claims court case.

The Decision

Decisions made under small claims courts are public and the full decisions are typically available through CanLII or individual court house websites. As my case was heard in Halifax, the decision can be accessed through The Courts of Nova Scotia website. As of the day that I posted this blog entry, the decision pertaining to my case (made March 23, 2020) still had not been uploaded online. I did however receive an electronic copy of the decision via email which is how I was made aware of it.

The decision itself is 7 pages long with a total of 53 paragraphs and sub-paragraphs numbered and lettered for easy legal reference. The decision consists of an assessment of credibility, an assessment of claims and a conclusion.

I was not awarded compensation for everything that I claimed. I also overlooked some items on the original claim that I filed. Not because they were not significant or important but because putting everything (arguments, receipts, emails, bank statements, text messages) together in an orderly fashion is exhausting and I just happened to miss some things. I combed through everything as thoroughly as I could and, without being legally trained, attempted to organize all of my evidence in a way that would be accepted into the bureaucracy of the law. Some of the things that I did include in my claim but was not awarded compensation for are, as far as I am concerned, sexist. For instance, although the adjudicator found that I was more credible than my abuser, that my abuser lied to me about his fertility and as such led to me requiring an abortion, the adjudicator did not feel that I was entitled to reimbursement of the costs of birth control, an IUD. The adjudicator’s position was that while my abuser may have had a moral obligation to share the costs of birth control if he indeed did not want children but still wanted to have sexual intercourse, he did not think that the cost of birth control is a damage I should be compensated for. In other words, the adjudicator agreed that my abuser lied to me about his ability to have kids and that I only became pregnant and had to have an abortion because of this lie. I was awarded monies for transportation to and from the abortion clinic. But the adjudicator did not believe that my abuser should have repaid me for the costs of birth control that I only had to spend because I now knew that, through an unwanted pregnancy, he was fertile. How this expense is not related to my abuser’s misleading and manipulative behaviour is baffling for me and my only explanation is sexism where there is still not a widespread acknowledgement that it does not matter what your sex or gender is; if two parties engage in sexual activity where there is a possibility for a pregnancy and neither of the parties want kids, they should share the costs of birth control. Period.

So I Won. He Owes Me Money. How do I Get It?

Now that an order has been issued (he has been formally notified that he owes me money), it is my responsibility to get the money from him.

The fact that it had gotten to a point where he owed me so much financially that I had grounds for (and won) a small claims court case means that I did not have high hopes of him actually paying me back. As expected, I have not, to this date, received any money from him. I have witnessed him publicly admitting that he feels the small claims process was unfair and the adjudicator who made the decision was inadequate and thus has no intention of repaying me.

So what can I do about it?

Well, I can leave it and do nothing or I can follow Nova Scotia’s guidelines for Enforcing a Small Claims Court Order. While this guide is fairly thorough, it is not clear if I would qualify as a ‘creditor’ and so whether I have to do all of the things in this guide to start the process of getting my money is not clear to me. With the COVID-19 pandemic, I have not been able to secure an appointment with the free legal clinic for assistance with this process and have resorted to a trial and error approach. Essentially, I go to an office that I will need to go to at some point during the process (e.g. land registration office) , tell them that I want to enforce a small claims court order and if they ask me for something that I do not have, I then know that I have to get whatever it is they need (e.g. paperwork) and then make another appointment. It is a slower process than if I could just take the enforcement guide to the legal clinic and ask some questions then do it. But for now, I am stuck with a slightly confusing guide, google, and lucky for me, access to transportation so that I am not spending days on the bus.

To date, I have completed and submitted an Enforcement Form so that I can get an Execution Order. The Execution Order is a legal order for the Sheriff’s Office to go and get (or try to get) the money that my abuser owes me (as determined through the small claims court process). Now how long it will take for me to get any kind of money from this work is not something I have the answer to. The length of time depends on whether he owes other people money who have registered in advance of me or if there are other tasks that I need to tick off a list to have my order enforced. For example, I think after I take the Execution Order to the Land Registry Office, there are other steps, like involving the Sheriff, that I will have to do (yes, the Land Registry Office is where you register that someone owes you money for a Small Claims Court Order in Nova Scotia. This might be related to the reality that if someone owes a significant amount of money, and it is registered, it impacts their ability to own or sell property).

A ‘Success’?

Even though this whole process has been and continues to be frustrating, I am patting myself on the back for getting through it. Not only having the energy and ability to navigate a complex system and put together an argument but for having the courage to stand up to the man who took so much from me and to tell him that I have had enough. Through this process, independent of ingrained sexism or the fact that to expect a non-legally trained human to put together an argument for court is unreasonable, I sent him a message that I know he wronged me. I know he abused me. I know he sexually exploited me. In the absence of any apologies or efforts on his part to undo the harm he has done, I have taken steps to engage the (legal) processes that exist in order to have some sense of justice. I am grateful that I was able to process the sexual assault and have people who could support me through the small claims court and other ongoing legal processes so that I was able to file with the small claims court within the 2 year time limit.

Whether he pays me or not, I have a formal record that he owes me. Although small, and not from him, my abuser, that little piece of recognition means a lot for me and my healing journey moving forward.

Until next time.