The following National Spousal Abuse FAQs are provided by the Legal Studies Program.

Funded by the Department of Justice Canada.

Warning: 

The contents of these FAQs are intended as general legal information only. If you have
a personal problem, please consult a lawyer.



My friend says that I will not be able to prove in court that my husband scared me just by 
standing outside my workplace every day. Is this right?

Not really because the court will be interested in more than the harassing behaviour. A 
behaviour becomes harassment if :

it caused you to fear for your safety or that of someone known to you
your fear was reasonable in all the circumstances

In order to decide if the behaviour is harassment a court will look at the whole relationship 
between you and your husband  to determine:

if your fear was reasonable and 
to see whether your husband ought to have known that his conduct was harassing.  

Therefore the court will not just be concerned with the fact that your husband stood outside 
your workplace. They will look at this event in the context of your whole relationship.