Thank you for inviting me.
This is very different for me. I come from that organized crime side. When I was young I ended up with a motorcycle gang, prostituting, finding other girls to work for them, and that kind of thing.
We talk about organized crime. Kate phoned to ask if I wanted to come to speak. I've been off the street for 10 years now. This is an honour for me. But I have direct knowledge of that from my own lifestyle—from being there, being recruited, and being put out.
They traffic these girls. Even if you're picked up in Edmonton you're still trafficked in all these other cities, because when you're in one city too long you become too well known. You're known meat. You're moved to another city where you're not known, so the police don't get to know who you are.
There are drugs. There are all kinds of different levels of organized crime. You start off at the bottom and build your way up.
The people before us spoke about how you get into it. Poverty's a big one--not fitting in anywhere. A child who was always pushed aside is very drawn to these gangs because they now have a family. They're accepted. They're needed. Whether they're needed to do a hit, hurt someone, score drugs, or sell the drugs, as weird as it seems, they're needed and accepted. I guess gang-level acceptance is what it's called. It would be very hard to end all this stuff.
I sit in this room and listen to people talk about what we could do to make it better. I heard what the judge had to say about how it is. That's why there are lengthy trials and stuff, because you want to know who ratted you out. That's the terminology they use. That's why you have these long trials.
I myself sit and wonder, yes, they pay all this money for these defence lawyers and things. But they got the money from people like me, even, who worked the street for them. It was my money that paid for their defence.
There are so many different things I could talk more about. I don't know exactly what I'm allowed to say and what I'm not allowed to say. I know that we're being recorded and my name will be recorded. I was asked if I was worried about that, because where I come from, it's called wrong to do that. But I don't believe that. I'm not out here speaking about anybody but myself. So I'm really glad to be here.
I'll be more useful answering questions because I don't really know what to say.
That's it. Thanks.