2-hour wildfire evacuation notice issued for some Fort McMurray neighbourhoods
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
The Golden Globes carpet typically glitters with crystal-studded gowns in pastel hues, but it looked different in January 2018: The ballgowns were black, and the night's key accessory was a pin that read "Time's Up." Onstage, Oprah Winfrey brought guests to their feet with a warning to powerful abusers: "Their time is up!"
Five years later, Time's Up -- the now-embattled anti-harassment organization founded with fanfare during the early days of the #MeToo reckoning against sexual misconduct -- is ceasing operations, at least in its current form.
A year after pledging a "major reset" following a scandal involving its leaders' dealings with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid sexual harassment allegations, the group tells The Associated Press that Time's Up is shifting remaining funds to the independently administered Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, and stopping other operations.
The decision, which board chair Gabrielle Sulzberger said takes effect by the end of January, caps a tumultuous period for an organization that made a splashy public entrance on Jan. 1, 2018, with newspaper ads running an open letter signed by hundreds of prominent Hollywood movie stars, producers and agents.
Following the highly visible show of support days later at the Globes, donations large and small flowed into a GoFundMe to the tune of $24 million, earmarked for the nascent Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. The following months saw the formation of the rest of Time's Up, which promised a house-cleaning of an industry rocked by the stunning allegations against mogul Harvey Weinstein.
By January 2023, Time's Up looked very different after a radical house-cleaning of its own -- sparked by a damaging internal report -- with only a skeleton crew and three remaining board members. Remaining funds now total about $1.7 million, Sulzberger said; the millions from the early donations already went to the legal fund.
"It was not an easy decision, but the board was unanimous that it's the right decision and the most impactful way we get to move forward," Sulzberger told the AP.
She and the remaining board members -- Colleen DeCourcy and Ashley Judd, the actor and one of the most powerful early Weinstein accusers -- will step down as Time's Up Now and the Time's Up Foundation, the two groups that formed what is commonly known as Time's Up, shut down.
"Very simply, the Legal Defense Fund really reflects who we were not only at our inception but really at our core," Sulzberger said. "We really just decided that at the end of the day, we needed to go back to our roots. (The fund) was the first initiative that we formed and funded, and remains at the heart of everything we stood for."
The fund is administered by the National Women's Law Center in Washington and provides legal and administrative help to workers, most of them identifying as low-income and 40% as people of color. Time's Up Now and the Time's Up Foundation had focused on policy and advocacy work.
Uma Iyer, vice president of marketing and communications at the law centre, says the fund has helped connect more than 4,700 workers with legal services, and funded or committed funding to 350 cases out of just over 500 that applied.
Employment and civil rights lawyer Debra Katz, long among the nation's most prominent attorneys dealing with sexual harassment cases, called the fund a crucial resource for survivors and their advocates.
"They understand these issues and they've always been completely survivor-centric and respectful of survivors," Katz said of the National Women's Law Center, with which she's worked for decades.
But Katz, who represented key Cuomo accuser Charlotte Bennett, was highly critical of the Time's Up organization, specifically former CEO Tina Tchen and former board chair Roberta Kaplan's dealings with the Cuomo administration. Both resigned in August 2021 amid uproar over revelations they had offered advice after Cuomo was accused of misconduct and that Tchen initially discouraged other Time's Up leaders from commenting publicly on allegations by accuser Lindsey Boylan.
"You cannot backchannel to corporations and entities and believe you were providing strategic advice when you're also suing those entities because they've engaged in serious wrongdoing," Katz said. "That's what they attempted to do. It just erodes trust with survivors."
Current Time's Up leaders take pains to point out that the organization was instrumental in the fight for legislation increasing protections for workers, including extending the statute of limitations on rape in 15 states, and working toward achieving pay equity in women's soccer. The group also worked on issues involving working families impacted by COVID-19, such as emergency sick leave.
"I have two adult daughters, and the kinds of issues that I faced as a young woman in the workplace, I feel Time's Up has made a huge difference in moving that needle," Sulzberger said.
Despite early fundraising success, Time's Up was plagued by issues from the start, often accused of being too aligned with Hollywood's rich and powerful -- a theme of the early #MeToo movement overall. The group had leadership problems, too. In February 2019, CEO Lisa Borders resigned over sexual harassment allegations against her son. A bit more than two years later came Tchen's and Kaplan's departures.
Announcing its "reset" in November 2021, the organization made public a report prepared by an outside consultant that listed numerous deficiencies. Among them: confusion over purpose and mission, ineffective communication internally and externally, the appearance of being politically partisan, and seeming too connected with Hollywood.
Part of the problem, the report said, was how fast the organization grew, ramping up "like a jet plane to a rocket ship overnight."
The staff was reduced to a skeleton crew and the few remaining board members spent a year, according to Sulzberger, listening to the group's many stakeholders before making a decision.
Katz said it would be wrong to see the travails of Time's Up -- or any organization, for that matter -- as a sign of weakness of the overall #MeToo movement. Quite the opposite, she said: It shows the movement's resilience.
"As movements progress and become more mature they go through phases. But if anything, this shows the power of this movement because victims of sexual violence came forward and said, `We're not going to countenance this (conflict) within our organization,"' Katz said. "It shows the power of individuals demanding clarity in their organizations and leaders."
Resources for sexual assault survivors in Canada
If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety, you should call 911.
A full list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling can be found at ReeseCommunity.com. Resources in your community can be found by entering your postal code.
Helplines, legal services and locations that offer sexual assault kits in Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia can be found here.
National Residential School Crisis Line: +1 866 925 4419
24-hour crisis line: 416 597 8808
Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: +1 833 900 1010
Trans Lifeline: +1 877 330 6366
Sexual misconduct support for current or former members of the Armed Forces: +1 844 750 1648
A wildfire evacuation alert for some Fort McMurray residents has been updated to a two-hour evacuation notice.
Saskatchewan RCMP are set to provide an update on what the service calls a 'significant' sexual assault and internet child exploitation investigation.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
An American accused of sexually assaulting a Pennsylvania college student in 2013 and later sending her a Facebook message that said, 'So I raped you,' has been detained in France after a three-year search.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.
The Israeli flag is flying at Ottawa City Hall today to mark the country's national day, with plans to hold a private ceremony to mark Israel's Independence Day. There is a significant police presence at City Hall, including security barriers outside the main doors.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
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.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.