First time I experienced someone try to kidnap me was when I was 11. My twin sister and I ran away from some white men in a van that had been following us from school for days. I’ve had many experiences like this through the my life but it was so normalized being Indigenous.

I wish that was the first and last time that someone tried to kidnap me but it wasn’t. I’ve learned to avoid vans and white men. Especially in places like Vancouver.

The thing is it becomes normalized because when you grow up on the Rez, or if you are an urban native you grow up in native housing and you hear stories from your native friends who have it worse than you. I’ve lived off and on Rez.

I first experienced sexual abuse at the age of 7. My abuse wasn’t frequent and I had it good compared to my other friends. So you don’t talk about it. There is a reason why Indigenous women become targets of human trafficking. We get conditioned at a young age.

The sad thing is my story ain’t bad. Some native women have had it way worse than me. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Human trafficking is trending today so a lot of people are talking about it. So for the rest of the 364 days please don’t forget about #MMIW. 1/2 of human trafficked victims in Canada are Indigenous. 1/4 of human trafficked victims in the US are Indigenous. We want to live.