NDP calls on province to end statute of limitations for childhood physical abuse

NDP justice critic Lela Evans is calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government toallow survivors of childhood physical abuse the same rights as those who were sexually abused.

Evans stood in the House of Assembly on Monday to present a petition to amend the Limitations Act, which outlines how long a person has to take legal action in a variety of situations.

She was picking up the torch from Jack Whalen, a man who says he spent an unreasonable amount of time in solitary confinement as a child in the Whitbourne Boys Home.

"This is a petition urging the House of Assembly to ask government to amend the Limitations Act to clearly state that there is no limitation period for civil claims involving child abuse of any form," Evans said. "Various forms of child abuse often occur and are highly interrelated. Treating ... child sexual abuse differently from non-sexual child abuse for limitation period purposes is inconsistent."

Whalenwas sent to the Whitbourne Boys Home a youth correctional facility when he was 13 and stayed until he was 17. He estimates he spent about half that time in solitary, sometimes for weeks and months at a time. He says the experience robbed him of an education and haunted him throughout his life.

His daughter, Brittany Whalen, became a lawyer to take on his case. They sued the provincial government but were told too much time had passed and the Limitations Act prevented him from bringing his case to the courts.

Newfoundland and Labrador is one of only two provinces in Canada that have a statute of limitations on physical abuse. People have a strict timelineto come forward with lawsuits either two years after the abuse happened, or in the case of child abuse, two years after the victim turns 19.

The law was updated in the 1990s to remove the same limitation for survivors of sexual abuse, paving the way for multiple lawsuits related to the Catholic church and Mount Cashel abuse scandals.

Whalen and his family stood outside Confederation Building on Monday protesting for the act to change.

He also took his protest to New Brunswick, the only other province with similar laws, and Ottawa in September.

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