The whole world changed in the near-decade between two of the most high-profile sexual assault trials in recent Canadian history. But inside the courtroom, it was as if no time had passed at all.
Outside, the world had been fundamentally reordered by a pandemic, by a reality TV star twice elected U.S. President, by the murder of a Black man by a police officer on a Minneapolis street, and by a series of sexual-assault allegations against a high-profile Hollywood film producer, which catalyzed a global reckoning with how we view, talk about, and confront sexual violence. The #MeToo movement was supposed to have marked the end of the era where lecherous men could blithely cop a feel behind a cubicle and expect female discretion, and the beginning of a new one where the public operates from the starting assumption of “believe all women.” And in many workplaces, schools and community spaces, things did change.
It was the correct ruling in my view.
