Can’t Buy Silence Act

The Can't Buy Silence Act deals with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) used in the federal public sector, particularly in cases involving harassment, violence, or discrimination complaints. It requires the President of the Treasury Board to publish an annual report showing how many NDAs were signed across federal government entities and the total dollar value of settlements involving them, while protecting individual identities. This reporting requirement overrides claims of privilege, including solicitor-client and parliamentary privilege, though parliamentary privilege is waived only for this specific purpose. Parliament must also formally review how the law is working every two years.

The bill changes the rules for how NDAs can be used with public money. Government departments, Crown corporations, and federal bodies (including the Senate's and House of Commons' internal governance committees, the Library of Parliament, and the Parliamentary Protective Service) will be barred from using public funds to pay for harassment or discrimination settlements that include an NDA, or to sue a complainant over an NDA. An NDA can only be entered into if the complainant, after getting the chance for independent legal advice, specifically and voluntarily requests one in writing. Even when an NDA is signed, it cannot stop a complainant from talking to lawyers, police, healthcare providers, counsellors, support workers, or family and friends, nor from making anonymized artistic expressions about their experience.

Finally, non-government organizations that receive federal grants or contributions will have to report annually to the Treasury Board on how many NDAs they've entered into and their total value, and federal officials handing out that funding must take steps to ensure the money isn't used for NDA-linked settlements or lawsuits against complainants. The law would take effect 60 days after receiving royal assent.

This bill requires annual public reporting on federal non-disclosure agreements, restricts the use of public money to fund or litigate them, and imposes conditions on when federal departments and Parliamentary bodies may enter into them.

• Reporting duty — the President of the Treasury Board must table an annual report in both Houses of Parliament, within 45 days of the fiscal year's end, listing the number and total dollar value of non-disclosure agreements across entities covered by the Public Accounts, including data from non-governmental grant/contribution recipients.
• Override of privilege — the reporting requirement applies even where information would otherwise be protected by parliamentary privilege, solicitor-client privilege, litigation privilege, or Cabinet confidence; parliamentary privilege is expressly waived for this purpose only.
• Funding restrictions — federal officials with grant- or contribution-making authority must take measures ensuring public money is not used to pay for harassment/violence or discrimination settlements that include a non-disclosure agreement, or to litigate against a complainant over such an agreement; the same restriction is applied directly to departments, departmental corporations, Crown corporations, the Senate and House internal economy bodies, the Library of Parliament, and the Parliamentary Protective Service.
• Conditions on entering agreements — these federal bodies may only enter a non-disclosure agreement if the complainant, after having access to independent legal advice, makes a specific and voluntary written request for one; several categories of communication (with lawyers, health professionals, elders, victim services, family, etc.) and artistic expression that doesn't identify the parties are exempted from any such agreement's effect.
• Third-party reporting obligation — non-governmental entities receiving federal grants or contributions must report annually to the President of the Treasury Board on the number and dollar value of non-disclosure agreements they use, with data provided in a form unlikely to reveal individual identities.
• Oversight — a Senate, House of Commons, or joint committee must review the Act's provisions and operation starting after its second anniversary and every two years thereafter; no penalties for non-compliance are specified in the text, and no sunset clause is included.