2 women who signed NDAs unable to testify in UPEI review into sexual harassment: lawyer
CBC
Two women who came forward in 2012 with allegations of sexual harassment at the University of Prince Edward Island have been unable to provide testimony in an ongoing review because they signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), according to the lawyer representing them.
That review, by the Toronto-based law firm Rubin Thomlinson, is meant to look at how the university has dealt with complaints of sexual harassment on campus, and its practice of signing NDAs with complainants who came forward.
Lawyer Ron Pink spoke about the situation facing his clients during a Halifax panel discussion on NDAs organized by the group Can't Buy My Silence, which is campaigning for an end to the use of the documents to silence victims.
Pink said UPEI agreed to waive the conditions of the NDAs his clients had signed so that they could participate in the review, but he said the situation was complicated by the fact that the person being accused of harassment had also signed the agreement.
"Because they couldn't get the [alleged] harasser to forgo the NDA, they couldn't testify or speak to the investigator," Pink said of the two women.
"And there's no way around it legally, except with a real fight and an expensive fight [so] that they say, 'What do I want to do that for?'"
Pink did not name his clients or the person accused of sexual harassment by his clients.
The circumstances and timelines all correspond with what CBC News has previously reported regarding allegations of sexual harassment made against the former president of UPEI, Alaa Abd-El-Aziz.
CBC News tried multiple times to contact Abd-El-Aziz but did not receive a response.
CBC News also reached out to Pink, who declined to confirm further details from his presentation. He also declined a request for an interview.
In the terms of reference for the review, UPEI said it was "committed to trying to ensure that all those who are interested in participating in the review will have an opportunity to do so," even if they had signed non-disclosure agreements as part of their settlements with the institution.
"The university has waived the confidentiality requirements for everyone who has contacted counsel, so that they can openly participate in the review," a university spokesperson told CBC by email.
But UPEI did not address questions about whether Abd-El-Aziz had also signed NDAs and whether he had refused to waive those conditions to allow those people to speak.
Neither did the university respond to a request to provide a spokesperson from the board of governors for an interview.
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