Stephanie Wesley - Wawatay News

Bridget Perrier is a self-described “warrior.” She is a survivor in every sense of the word.
Adopted out by her Ojibwe mother to a non-Native family in Thunder Bay, she suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a family friend. The repercussions of this abuse surfaced when she was placed into a Children’s Aid Society-run group home in the city and was quickly lured into the world of prostitution at the age of 12.
“There were a lot of us,” Perrier said of the underage prostitutes who were working in Thunder Bay.

In March of this year, legalized brothels, or “bawdy houses” were given the go-ahead by the Ontario Court of Appeal and could become a reality within the next few months. Hiring security and drivers for women who work in the sex-trade was also legalized. Exploitation by “pimps” is still illegal, as is soliciting sex on the streets.
“The reason solicitation is still illegal is because it’s a public nuisance,” Lana Ray, who works at Ontario Native Women’s Association (ONWA), said.

2013 has just begun and I can’t wait to see what it brings. A lot happened for me personally in the year of 2012, there were plenty of lows but also a lot of highs.
In fact, Facebook even has a new “trend” where each user can view their “20 biggest moments of the year.”
I viewed mine and was happy with most of what I saw – except for the 19th moment which was “Stephanie Wesley became friends with Classic Roots on Nov. 5, 2012.” Classic Roots is a First Nations electronic dance music disc jockey from Thunder Bay.

On Jan. 28, Anonymous launched phase 1 of Operation Thunderbird – #OpThunderbird on Twitter – which many people thought would unleash an onslaught of embarrassing information on the members of the Thunder Bay Police Services (TBPS).
However, instead of divulging any information on TBPS, Anonymous posted a lengthy essay in which they explained that they “don’t need to d0x and hack – yet – condemning evidence is available a plenty in the public domain.”

At noon on Feb.14, 35 people gathered at City Hall in Thunder Bay to participate in the fifth annual Valentine’s Day memorial march for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Before the march, three women talked to the small crowd about their reasons for organizing and attending the march.
Annette Schroeter or Muskrat Dam First Nation, explained that the subject of missing and murdered Indigenous women is a “huge issue.”
Schroeter was born and raised in Prince George, BC. The city is located on Highway 16 which is known as the “highway of tears.”