The Coast recently reported on a presentation that Sunny Marriner gave to Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners. Marriner is an expert on sexual violence and the justice system, and has become an advocate for something known as VACR—violence against women advocate case review. VACR is a way of analyzing how sexual assaults are treated in […]
Sexual assault
Posted inNews + Opinion
Police board votes for a review of sexual assault cases
The bulk of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Monday, June 20, was devoted to a presentation from Sunny Marriner, who joined the Zoom meeting shortly after it began. Marriner has been helping and advocating for survivors of sexual assault for 25 years, and appeared before the police board to talk about “Violence […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Conservative candidate Troy Myers drops out after sexual assault allegation
Following an allegation of sexual assault from a provincial NDP candidate, Troy Myers, CEO and librarian of the South Shore Public Libraries, has withdrawn from running in the federal election. Myers was representing the Conservatives in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour. Myers posted a statement on his Facebook page Monday morning denying the accusation, but says “for the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sex + dating survey: Let’s talk about consent and rape culture
The Coast spent a long time considering whether or not a quirky survey about sex and relationships was the place to ask the harder questions about sexualized violence and rape culture. At first, we thought no way: There is nothing quirky about sexual assault. But we also wondered why it’s so easy—and there’s so much […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Avalon Sexual Assault centre is underfunded, overwhelmed and stalled on best steps forward
There’s not much the board and staff at Avalon Sexual Assault Centre agree on these days. Tension has built since last fall, and came to a public head this spring, with a union certification vote and closure of the organization’s wait list—a list that had survivors of sexualized violence waiting up to two years for […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Avalon Sexual Assault Centre’s waitlist on hold
F or the first time since 1996, the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre has temporarily stopped accepting new clients. The Dresden Row centre, offering specialized sexual assault care and support, announced it has become overwhelmed by their caseload after several years of increasing numbers of requests for help. The plan is to assess the needs of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Taxi changes aim to fix gender disparity and safety issues
Council moved Halifax’s taxi reform on to the next stage this week by passing all recommendations put forward by staff in the Vehicle for Hire Licensing Program Review. Sweeping “housekeeping changes” from making GPS units mandatory, increasing language testing requirements, tightening the rules around talking on the phone while driving passengers and making credit and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
25 for 25: episode 1998
It was #MeToo moment decades before #MeToo even existed. Gerald Regan, former Nova Scotian premier and Liberal party statesman, brought to court on eight charges of sexual assault against victims as young as 14. Journalist Stephen Kimber was there watching the trial in 1998 when Regan was eventually acquitted. He wrote about the story for The Coast […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Graphic new details emerge about Shambhala sexual assault
Allegations of a sexual assault committed 16 years ago by spiritual leader Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is credible, say investigators, and there’s corroborating evidence the Shambhala leadership knew of the incident at the time. An update released this week by Project Sunshine investigators contains new details on an attempted rape that is alleged to have taken […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
New trial ordered for cab driver Bassam al-Rawi
The Halifax taxi driver acquitted on all charges of sexually assaulting an intoxicated passenger in the back of his cab will face a new trial. A decision released Wednesday by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal found that Judge Gregory Lenehan “misdirected himself as to the legal meaning of consent” in his ruling last March. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Putting trials on trial
The urgent and vivid public discourse surrounding rape culture has perhaps never been so ubiquitous. The stampede of coverage in the wake of a (seemingly nonstop) list of allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in media, entertainment and government is not slowing down—if anything it seems to be gaining more traction all the time. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
What’s asked of women in the film industry
If I decide not to report someone when they make an inappropriate comment, does it make me an enabler? If I continue to work with someone who I’ve heard rumours about does it make me complicit? If I post this sexy photo on my social media, does it make me more of a target? I […]