TIL that Canada has an Apology Act which states that saying "sorry" is not an admission of guilt.
Liability and apology: Canada’s Apology Act explained
Prior to this law, millions of people were arrested at funerals.
Police have to pick between arresting the doctor or people paying their last visit. It's horrible.
why would it be; it just means "i feel bad". which you could say for things you did but also it should be allowed to feel bad for things you didn't cause yourself.
"we had to evacuate because of the wildfire"
"oh, I'm sorry"
"I knew it you son of a bitch"
For anyone having trouble understanding the difference between "I'm sorry" and "I apologize," think of how it would be taken at a funeral.
"I'm sorry for your loss"
It depends on the context, don't you think?
I don't think anyone will assume you started the fire just because you're sorry someone had to evacuate.
But let's say you're out in public, there's people all over, you bump into someone, or someone bumps into you, you're not sure, but either way, they fall down and injure themselves. Thanks to this, you can say "I'm sorry" without having a lawyer argue that you accepted guilt for the incident just because you said you're sorry.
Every single time I tell my bf I'm sorry about something bad that happened to him, his response is, "Why? You didn't do it."
I wonder if there's a chance he's trying to console you. like there's nothing you could've done and it wasn't your fault so you might as well not worry about it kinda way.
Interesting that it doesn't apply to criminal cases, just civil ones, and in PEI, only to civil healthcare or defamation cases, nothing else.
I imagine, healthcare case comes from when a medic announces bad news and tries to express compassion only to get sued because obviously that's the correct person to blame
The fact that this was necessary is so stupid
Yup. It was necessary because of the lawsuits from our former "neighbors" down south. We tried to stop that shit from coming up here but here we are. Get fucked America (not directed at you op, sorry)
Since I'm Canadian and live in a major city that gets very busy I can kinda understand it. I do it myself. bump into someone or do the side walk shuffle and I said sorry even though it's not my fault. Like someone will bump into me and I'll say sorry.
I understand saying sorry. I don't understand it being legally binding anywhere in the world.
Can I invoke this during family arguments over the holidays?
Legally you're allowed to use "I'm sorry you feel that way"
"My bad bro."
Sorry.
“I’m so sorry for your loss”
“Murderer!!!”
The article says they came up with this in 2007. The, in 2008 this happened... 🤔
that's pretty funny. the culture is acknowledged by law
So I can pummel a home invader while saying sorry and I'm OK?
I had the opposite TIL when I learned other cultures only apologize for wrong doings and not as a sign of sympathy.
XKCD 945
I’m on the other side of the fence for this one.
I'll give you something to be sorry about vibes. I'll give you something for me to be sorry about?