Like I said in an earlier post, the adjudicator in my small claims court case ruled in my favour – against my abuser. I also explained how the number of steps and tasks that I had to do were a bit of a circus and how the out-of pocket expenses that are required of ‘successful’ claimants (e.g. me in this case) are not cheap.

Well, on Feb 26, 2021 I received a cheque from the courts from money that they deducted from his paycheck (aka: wage garnishment). He still worked for the last employer that I knew of. It was not a lot of money (less than 1% of what he owes me) and if the payments continue at this rate, it will be about 5.5 years before I get all of my money back and lets get real, he will not be working there that long and if he quits, I have no idea what happens to the money he owes me. For example, do the payments stop because he no longer works at the job that I put on the Execution Order I filed? If he does quit, I have zero contact with him (which is what I want) and so I have no way of knowing if he gets a job somewhere else.

And so, I can say that I brought a matter to small claims court and as a self-represented human who was steeped in trauma, managed to pull together an argument and evidence to have a judgement done in my favour. I learned a lot. Most of it was a first hand experience of how piecemeal and unjust the legal system in Canada is. Whatever founding philosophies or theories or models or ethics are at the base of the legal system may make sense on paper but, from my experience, do not provide for any real solutions to harm even if the level of harm is deemed as illegal (e.g. meeting a threshold where legal action is warranted).

Do I regret going through the process?

No. I do not. Am I exhausted, more cynical and jaded because of this experience? Yes. Were my ideals of what is just uprooted and shit on? Yes. Yet I do not regret it and am not sure if I can fully explain why.

Maybe it is because I am stubborn and needed to experience the legal system for myself and so now I can definitively say that I know how challenging and oppressive it is. How can I regret gaining that knowledge? Maybe the lack of regret is because this experience has helped me learn just how far I will go, with almost no resources, to fight for any kind of justice. Maybe the lack of regret is because, at every stage/step I took some time to reflect and decide whether I wanted to proceed with this process. I did not dive in head first or act like I did not have a choice to engage. I chose to pursue small claims court.

What I do regret however, is the system itself – how firmly rooted it is in the everyday life of a lot of Canadians and how many people may take for granted a belief that the legal system(s) are somehow equitable for everyone. Whether the decision making processes or legal theories of reasoning or ethics claim to be equitable is one thing and is not the focus of this post. What I am saying is that no one “wins” and the only people who benefit (read: profit) are the legal professionals and support staff who are making a living. Financial gain but at what cost?

Until next time.