In celebration of International Women’s Day, Unifor 2025 welcomed Dr. Julie Macfarlane, a Professor of Law and a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Windsor for a talk entitled “Is the Writing on the Wall for Non-Disclosure Agreements?”
Her 2020 book, Going Public: A Survivor’s Journey from Grief to Action, describes her personal and professional experiences of being victimized by sexual violence and fighting for change as lawyer and an activist. Dr. Macfarlane is the co-founder of the Can’t Buy My Silence campaign to end the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to silence those victimized by abuse, harassment and discrimination.
The PSAC unit of our local has made a proposal in our current negotiations with PSAC to end the use of NDAs. Our local has also fought for (and won!) a review of PSAC’s Procedural Guidelines for Discrimination and Harassment and Dr. Macfarlane’s account of how institutions fail those victimized by harassment and discrimination is, unfortunately, all too relatable.
