Apology Act
Apology Act (British Columbia, 2006) is a provincial law that allows individuals and institutions to offer an apology without that apology being used as evidence of legal liability. Under this act, saying “I’m sorry” cannot be interpreted in court as an admission of fault, negligence, or wrongdoing.
The purpose of the Act is to remove the legal risk associated with apologising, especially in healthcare, education, and other public systems where fear of liability often silences meaningful acknowledgement of harm. In practice, however, many institutions still resist apology, or offer only performative statements stripped of accountability. The law enables—but does not require—repair.
-
Procedural policing of pain: what happens if I keen?
Keening—the sad, piercing wails often heard at a funeral for a child—is a human expression, older than the rules we follow or the schools we enter. It is what happens when grief overwhelms language, when memory floods muscle, when there is nothing left but pain. It is not shouting. It is not rage directed at…