Average hourly wage in Canada now $34.95: StatCan
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
"Bombshell, indeed," Montreal actress Erika Rosenbaum said of the New York Court of Appeals decision throwing out the conviction of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Rosenbaum is among the Silence Breakers, a group of women who came forward after allegations of sexual assault and harassment first surfaced against Weinstein in 2017.
"It is a profoundly discouraging development but not a surprising one, unfortunately," she says. "The legal system as it is, is just not built to convict and so survivors go out on a limb and tell their stories and re-traumatize themselves for the sake of these trials, and then something like this happens. It will certainly cost a great deal to tell those stories all over again."
The Montreal native was in her twenties, dreaming of landing a big role, and going back and forth between her home and Hollywood auditions, when she met Weinstein at a party in Los Angeles knowing he was the man many called the "star maker."
In 2017, she broke her silence, detailing three separate incidents during encounters with Weinstein.
She says the ruling is "unfortunate" because many of the women who stepped forward were willing to stand up in court, despite the re-traumatization inflicted by revisiting these moments, because they wanted to create change and do the right thing.
"I was willing to share my story to lend to the predatory story that this particular character has proven," she says. "It is very hard to understand why we were asked to do that by lawyers, and the trial judge allowed it, and now this is the thing that is allowing this particular accusation to be overturned, it is very disconcerting."
New York's top court ruled the judge should not have allowed the testimonies of women whose allegations were not part of the charges against him.
Women's groups say the decision highlights the limitations of the legal system that survivors can experience. The Canadian Women's Foundation says about 30 per cent of women and girls over the age of 15 in this country have experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.
"I think they are going to feel quite concerned today," says Andrea Gunraj, vice-president of public engagement with the foundation. "They may be feeling re-traumatized, they may be feeling they may not be listened to if they report."
Still, Gunraj adds, there have been improvements in the years since the #MeToo movement went global as legal procedures against Weinstein got underway. "In 2017, survivors all around the world said #MeToo, and it opened a door on understanding sexual violence not just in entertainment but also in the workplace, in schools, in sports."
Rosenbaum says today's ruling will not deter her from sharing her story.
"I will continue to speak to anyone who will listen," she says. "I speak to women's groups, I speak to young people, and I will try to help others for the rest of my career, because the one thing I can do with my truth is to help people stand up for themselves."
Weinstein is not a free man. He is set to serve a separate 16-year sentence on a rape conviction in California.
"He is behind bars where he belongs, because he is a criminal," Rosenbaum says.
With files from The Associated Press
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
Details on arrests, tickets and charges against a number of pro-Palestinian protesters arrested at the University of Calgary will be released on Friday, police say,
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
Oprah Winfrey said on Thursday evening that she has long played a role in promoting unhealthy and unrealistic diets.
A southwestern Ontario woman has received an $8,400 bill from a hospital in Windsor, Ont., after she refused to put her mother in a nursing home she hated -- and she says she has no intention of paying it.
Toronto police say a man who allegedly attempted to access Drake’s Bridle Path property was taken to hospital on Thursday after an altercation with security guards.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.