Latest news with #BehindClosedDoors
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
Former Nanaimo resident providing 'comfort kits' for victims of sexual assault
Sarah Sherman knows what it means to have nothing. After 18 years of domestic abuse and terror, Sherman's estranged husband broke into her home, sexually assaulted and tried to kill her, threatened to kill their two children, and died in a car wreck while trying to evade police. After undergoing a gruelling, hours-long forensic sexual assault exam at a Nanaimo hospital, the police kept her clothing as evidence. 'I was released wearing paper hospital booties, paper maternity underwear, no bra, and a two-piece hot pink velour outfit that didn't fit me,' said Sherman, the founder of We're Here For You Canada , a registered charity that provides 'Comfort Kits' that include toiletries and clothing to survivors of sexual assault or intimate partner violence and have gone through a medical exam. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Leaving the hospital after enduring the worst experience of her life felt like a walk of shame. 'It felt like everyone knew what I had been through.' Sherman didn't want anyone to feel like she did that day. 'Everyone deserves dignity and respect,' said Sherman, who still deals with the trauma of what happened that November day in 2004. Although she was able to escape and call police after the attack, her former husband managed to pick up her youngest daughter from school. When he saw the police behind him, he drove into another car. The resulting wreck killed him, a child in the other car, and seriously injured one other person. Their daughter was seriously injured, but survived. It took Sherman many years to find her voice, and begin to speak about the tragedy. In December 2021, nearly 20 years later, it was time to speak out. 'I had to tell my story in order to help others,' said Sherman. 'I had been carrying so much guilt and shame. I want survivors to know they are not alone, they shouldn't be ashamed, and they haven't done anything wrong.' She also hopes that no survivor ever has to leave the hospital partially dressed and carrying their belongings in a blue and white plastic bag, feeling like others might be speculating about what happened to them. Each kit contains toiletries, a gift card for a meal, new clothing that fits properly, footwear, information on supports, and a carry bag that is discrete and new so survivors can have dignity, respect and privacy, said Sherman, who recently shared her story in the short CBC documentary Behind Closed Doors directed by Robert Gow. 'Her charity highlights a need in the Canadian medical system that most people are not aware of. No one wants to talk about the lack of resources for sexual assault survivors,' said Gow. 'Beyond that, she is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met. This story shows that hope and a happy life is possible after experiencing so much horror.' Sherman, who now lives in New Brunswick, said it was important to her to launch the charity in Nanaimo, where the incident occurred, but she hopes to expand the project across Canada. 'It's a gradual process because it's all volunteer-run,' said Sherman. With every opportunity she gets to share her story, including the short film, Sherman feels a little stronger. 'I want people to know they are not alone. There is help.' dryan@
CBC
25-05-2025
- CBC
Toronto installation designed to raise awareness of femicide, intimate partner violence
A new campaign, called 'Behind Closed Doors,' launched a public installation on Saturday. It's designed to raise awareness of femicide and intimate partner violence, issues still on rise in Ontario, and often out of public view. CBC's Lane Harrison explains.
CBC
25-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Purple doors in downtown Toronto raising awareness about femicide, intimate partner violence
Purple doors are popping up in Nathan Phillips Square this weekend to raise awareness about a growing issue in Ontario, and Canada, that often remains hidden. Behind Closed Doors is a new campaign intended to bring attention to the prevalence of gender-based violence and femicide. The installation features bold messages and statistics printed on the purple doors in the public square, including how one of the deadliest places a woman can be is behind closed doors. The organizer behind the piece says it's all about raising awareness about a deadly issue that persists. "We want to take this, the ultimate manifestation of violence against women, that's often hidden behind closed doors, and open the door to start conversations about addressing and ending femicide," said Marissa Kokkoros, executive director of Aura Freedom International, the organization behind the campaign. Kokkoros says the campaign is a play on Doors Open, returning to Toronto this weekend, which gives people a behind-the-scenes look at some of the city's famous buildings. The installation also comes shortly after police labelled the alleged homicide of a 25-year-old woman in Kingston this month a femicide. It was the first time Kingston police had used the term to describe an alleged crime. Femicide is defined as "the killing of one or more females, primarily by males, because they are female," by the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice. According to the organization, last year, 73 women were victims of alleged femicide in Ontario. "Femicide, unfortunately, is on the rise. It's increased about 20 per cent since 2019, so it's definitely not a thing of the past. It's definitely still happening," Kokkoros said. Gender-based violence declared epidemic in Toronto In 2023, the city of Toronto declared gender-based violence an epidemic, something the province hasn't done. Coun. Lily Cheng, who attended the first day of the installation Saturday, says that's unfortunate, because gender-based violence affects women across Ontario. "We should be working together across different levels of government," she said. Asked in November whether the province would follow suit, Premier Doug Ford told CBC Toronto that Ontario is "100 per cent behind making sure there's no violence against women," though he didn't explain why it was taking so long to declare an epidemic. Kokkoros says even though it's a symbolic gesture, it's an important step for the province to take. "It matters because then once you declare it, you have to treat it as a public health emergency," she said. "And when a woman is murdered every two days in Canada, we do think that's an emergency." As part of the Behind Closed Doors campaign, organizers are encouraging people to tie purple ribbons to their own doors this weekend, as a reminder of how big an issue gender-based violence still is. The installation will be up all weekend.
Irish Independent
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: Behind Closed Doors
This is the story of how the disgraced landlord Christian Carter was outed for failing to pay taxes. But instead of issuing an apology or an explanation for his actions, he took aim at the journalist – the Irish Independent's Amy Molloy - who reported on his activities. She said. 'I got a call from my editor, Gareth Morgan, who had just received a phone call from a court reporter stating that Christian Carter was in the Dublin District Court and he had actually filed for a restraining order against me after I recently made some inquiries about his tax debts.' Carter had claimed that Ms Molloy had been 'stalking and harassing him for years' and that the restraining order he had sought would mean that she 'could not write an article about him for a period of five years'. Today on the concluding episode of 'Behind Closed Doors', we go behind the headlines of the court case and hear what happened when Amy Molloy took to the witness stand to give her evidence. 'Back in 2017, I was spending hours chatting to our lawyers, going through everything and having to make sure all my T's were crossed and my I's were dotted. And then here I was in 2025, sitting in a witness box defending a restraining order application. It just seemed absolutely crazy to me,' she said. As Carter attempted to keep his name out of the spotlight, little did he realise that his previous text messages would be revealed in court and cast a shadow over who actually was the true victim in this legal battle. Today we bring you the concluding episode of Behind Closed Doors, the two-part special from The Indo Daily. Fionnán Sheahan is joined by Amy Molloy, Social Affairs correspondent with the Irish Independent, and by Kevin Doyle, Group Head of News at Mediahuis Ireland, to hear the evidence that Amy gave from the witness stand, and to explain the verdict from the judge and its ramifications for the freedom of the Irish press. The Indo Daily: Behind Closed Doors | Ep 2-When texts become testimony Listen to episode 1 here:
The Guardian
03-04-2025
- The Guardian
Delivered to a Predator: Al Fayed's Fixer review – this startling tale urgently needed telling
It is disturbingly easy to respond with little more than fatigue to reports of powerful men sexually exploiting women, because there have been so many. The part of us that should emit shock, disgust and righteous outrage becomes dulled through overuse. And so, when Mohamed Al Fayed, the billionaire former owner of Harrods, died in 2023 and was then credibly accused of being one of Britain's worst sex offenders, the collective reaction felt like a shrug. The new Dispatches investigation, Delivered to a Predator: Al Fayed's Fixer, however, ought to sharpen our revulsion and our resolve to fight for change. Building on the 2017 Dispatches documentary Behind Closed Doors and the 2024 BBC programme Predator at Harrods, it outlines the scale of the tycoon's wrongdoing: last year, the Metropolitan police said it believed Al Fayed may have raped or abused at least 111 women and girls, but here a lawyer working for survivors estimates the number to be more like 300. Dispatches has spoken to 16 victims and witnesses, mainly former Harrods staff, many of whom give their testimony in public for the first time. The rawness of the survivors' interviews, blameless individuals trembling as they describe a trauma that has redefined their whole lives, is a reminder that one case would be one too many – but their stories match. They allege that Harrods' working culture was one where young, usually blond employees were regularly manoeuvred into situations where they found themselves alone with the organisation's chair, and either felt obliged to allow him to molest them, or were raped. A picture emerges of a workplace where the boss's interest in young women was an open secret. Everyone could see women who fitted the same aesthetic profile being fast-tracked to particular roles, or sent on errands that involved visiting Al Fayed's offices on Park Lane, but nobody quite knew what was happening next and, if they did have suspicions, they felt powerless to speak out. It is a profoundly upsetting story of money buying impunity, but Dispatches makes a further claim about the logistics that is even more startling. It involves a name unknown the day before broadcast, but will be familiar to millions by the time you read this: Kelly Walker-Duncalf. Walker-Duncalf, it is alleged, was the woman who made it possible for Al Fayed to prey on women. She joined Harrods in 1997 at the age of 19 and, a few years later, was running a department called 'store approvals', which meant she vetted new staff. Every contributor here describes her as an untouchable Al Fayed acolyte who had influence far exceeding her job description: Walker-Duncalf was 'the second-most important person in Harrods', according to one interviewee. 'She had a degree of power that nobody else in the store had.' The women who say they were abused by Al Fayed allege that they were brought to his attention by Walker-Duncalf: she either directly recruited them or identified them as employees who should be given an audience with the owner. One former Harrods worker says she had Polaroids of female employees pinned up on a board. But the contention that Walker-Duncalf abetted Al Fayed goes beyond the practicalities. The alleged victims say the presence of a woman, during the initial phase when being showered with gifts or given an inexplicable promotion, caused them to feel bewildered, or made them more likely to ignore the voice in their head that was telling them to run. It is further alleged that Walker-Duncalf would scout for young women not just on the Harrods shop floor but outside the organisation, and even beyond Al Fayed's ownership of Harrods; and that on occasion she would literally deliver his victims to him. One interviewee, Francesca, says she met Walker-Duncalf through a mutual friend in London in 2013, three years after Al Fayed sold Harrods. She says Walker-Duncalf told her that Al Fayed was looking for a new PA, then took her to meet him, an encounter that began with Francesca apparently being given the job – the deal sealed with an envelope full of cash – and ended with her being raped. Reporting for Dispatches, Cathy Newman tracks Walker-Duncalf down to Jersey and reaches her by phone, apparently coming close to scoring an interview. Their meeting never happens, with Walker-Duncalf instead issuing a statement via her lawyer, denying that she enabled or facilitated any of Al Fayed's crimes. It is not suggested that Walker-Duncalf was aware of his abuse. The inevitable new police investigation will have to provide a final answer to that; for now, this programme has made an invaluable contribution to the story of Mohamed Al Fayed, a horrifying tale that urgently needs to be told in full. Delivered to a Predator: Al Fayed's Fixer is on Channel 4 now
