Trudeau acknowledges charges in Nijjar killing, calls for commitment to democracy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
"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
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Princess Anne paid tribute to veterans buried at a cemetery in British Columbia today, laying a wreath to honour the more than 2,500 military personnel and family members buried there.
Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish, edging out Forever Young and Sierra Leone for the upset victory.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.