I was born to a young Ojibway woman in Ontario who was bribed by the state to hand me over at birth with the promise of a better life for both of us.  I don't know how her story goes, but mine begins with me being labelled a "hard to place" infant because of my aboriginal blood.  I was seven pounds of helpless, dependant and completely unaware flesh and blood.  I was thought to be potentially difficult, defective, certainly undesirable . . . all because I am aboriginal. 

Fortunately I was chosen by a woman who loved, nurtured and encouraged me.  She taught me very early on about my heritage . . . to own it    to be proud of who I am.  She taught me that its wrong for a man to beat a woman . . . she taught me how she resisted my father's brutality and found a way to leave him and keep herself and her children safe.  She believed me when, as a teenager, I exposed my own sexual assault as a child to her . . . she supported me emotionally, accompanied me through a sexist court system . . . she called rape relief's crisis line for me . . .she guided me to into the revolution of the women's movement.

Last year was my first time attending Take Back the Night, even though I've been working with Rape Relief for nearly three years.  I was one of the women who protected the Transition House and answered the crisis lines while everyone else was taking back the streets.  Crisis calls don't stop for Take Back the Night . . . Men don't stop raping us for Take Back the Night . . . Men don't stop beating us for Take Back the Night . . . men don't stop buying us for Take Back the Night . . . men don't stop drugging us for Take Back the Night . . . Men don't stop stalking us, threatening us, intimidating us, harassing us . . .(those men at the fringe didn't leave us alone for take Back the Night . . . thank you safety volunteers!).

Look around . . . look at the women beside you, behind you . . . who do you see?  Who don't you see?  For every one of us here tonight there are at least two women who wanted to make it out tonight but couldn't be here because of the conditions of their lives . . . they couldn't win the fight with their husbands, lovers, fathers, and bosses for the right to feel what it would be like for just one night . . . to experience the freedom of being with such a beautiful, powerful crowd of women, united in sisterhood to stand up and resist male violence.

From working on the crisis lines and in the transition house, to organizing with aboriginal women in Vancouver, to attending national conferences with other feminist organizers, to attending my first Take Back the Night, to lobbying our federal ministers, to writing press releases, to being on this stage tonight . . . it's all progress in my revolutionary work.

Coming here tonight is a revolutionary action on your own part.  There are some places that can't have Take Back the Night like Saudi Arabia and Iran . . . but there are places right here in BC that can't have Take back the Night . . . like Chilliwack, Vernon, Kamloops, Tofino . . . these women are too tired, too oppressed, too isolated, too unsupported, unable to fight the interference they face from the police and city councils . . . we will take back the night for those women too.  In many other cities women are on the streets right now.  As many women are here tonight . . . many thousands more are demonstrating their abilities to Take Back the Night just like we are here right now.  We stand in solidarity with all of them . . . so many places . . . so many women . . . is that REVOLUTION???  YES!

Take another look around . . . I know of 31 women who aren't here tonight.  A couple of days ago the police confirmed that two of these women are dead . . . that's not good enough.  There are still 29 more names . . . all representing 29 lives unaccounted for . . . 29 failed police investigations . . . 29 daughters and mothers . . . What is the Vancouver Police Department doing about these women?  The city spending money, posting rewards, adding two extra cops will not find these women.  It is unacceptable that these investigations aren't being taken seriously.

Why do these crimes go unacknowledged, unsolved?  I'll tell you why . . . it's because they are sexist attacks on mostly native women and women of colour, women who are less valued by our white male supreme society.  SHAME ON YOU VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT!!!

Look around again.  Look at all the white faces . . . the number seems to be disproportionate to the population of Vancouver.  I ant each white woman here tonight to challenge her own racism and acknowledge her white privilege.  We need to all support and applaud all of the aboriginal women and women of colour who have organized in the struggle of fighting male violence while being faced with racism every day of their lives.

Work by organizations like AWAN, Helping Spirit Lodge, Congress of Black Women,  Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregivers, Downtown Eastside Women's Centre, Women Breaking the Silence project, India Mahila and many others is all revolutionary.

It's revolutionary to work at Rape Relief . . . By being here tonight, by protesting male violence, by demonstrating our outrage, by demanding our right to walk the streets without fear of attack, you are participating in a revolution . . .