The Ontario Limitations Act was amended on March 9, 2016, to
remove all limitation periods for civil claims based on sexual
assault. A limitation period is a deadline by which a plaintiff
must begin litigation. The standard limitation period in Ontario is
two years from the date of loss or the loss's discovery. After
the expiry of the limitation period, the litigant loses their right
to pursue a claim. The imposed time limits to commence a claim
support the concept that the wronged party should be reasonably
diligent in pursuing legal recourse once assaulted.
Before the recent amendment to the Limitations Act, victims have
been able to rely on the reasonable discoverability rule, which
requires that the imposed time limit is only applied once the harm
is discovered. This rule has been advantageous in cases where
victims realize they have been assaulted years after the incident,
which is often the case where victims were minors at the assault
time. However, this rule
