I will stand on a stage and give a speech on May 8, 2008, but I will not be alone. In spirit standing with me will be a myriad of women - my friends who perished at Pickton's farm and those still trapped in prostitution whose freedom I fight for.

Also on stage will be the amazing women who have been fighting the abolitionist fight long before I came on the scene and who have given me the analysis to explain what I have long felt in my heart. Beside me will be the proud and mighty aboriginal women who are loudly demanding the end to the exploitation that happens so prevalently in their communities.

There are many I want to express my deep gratitude towards, for their amazing acts of selflessness and sacrifice are what got me here. I will not thank them one by one, but I will discuss a common faith amongst them that is the driving force behind why they did what they did, which was to love me unconditionally and constantly sacrifice in their own lives to help me repair my own.

My posse, which assisted me in reclaiming my life and changing the destiny of my children, and I believe that life is about purpose. We believe it's through fulfilling our purpose that we can find happiness. Now, I am not aiming to answer the question of life here; I am only explaining how I was able to reclaim my life.

The most important thing that group of people gave me was time. It takes a lot of time and patience to see life through someone else's eyes…to walk her through every step it takes for her to come to a new paradigm.

I would hazard a conservative guess and say that in the beginning of my life overhaul I called my main support person about 10 times a day. She would walk through each and every situation with me and I would learn how to think and learn from a new perspective.

It's important to note, though, that my main support did not walk with me every step because she had a preconceived idea about who I needed to become or how I needed to change.

She did it because she loved me for the simple reason that I was a human being.

It took people completely different from who I had been to teach me a new framework to emulate, but my journey from where I was to where I am today did not happen in 12 weeks - the length of some treatment programs today; my learning how to live a new life took years. In fact, the time I left the streets to the time I went public about my past on Orato.com spanned six years.

If it took me 27 years in total to become the person that I was, perhaps we need to realize that it will take substantial and consistent long term help to assist those others that desire to be more than who they are now. We must realize some people are so lost, hurt and broken that they do not even envision they could aspire to be more; they have accepted their "fate" and have learned to live it to the best of their ability.

If I had been asked before I met my main support Amanda Goletto [4] if I liked my life, I would have said yes. I would have told you doing copious amounts of dope and drinking was just a party. I would (and did) tell people I loved being a prostitute. I was choosing this, empowering myself, I would say. I had no frame of reference for something more, and even if I had had dreams, I would have had no clue how to go about the ominous task of revamping my reality.

I, like others involved with the lifestyle of renting out our bodies, had an "us" and "them" mentality, and I "knew" I would never be able to break through the overwhelming differences I saw. Yet, here I am being... me. I may still be rough around the edges in some ways, but if you look past that, I love passionately, laugh loudly, and will fight tirelessly for my friends still out there.

I left the streets, but that does not mean I have turned my back on or forgotten my friends. I see them often and will move heaven and earth to help them. I know the key to me being at this place in my life is my faith and loving and giving as selflessly as people did for me.

At this point, living is about being the loudest voice I can be about all the injustice I am so intimately familiar with. Justice should be served out of a desire to see people treated as they should be – as human beings.

Martin Luther King said, "Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless." So now I fight for the rights of my friends - both alive and dead - by working to change laws so that women will be equal to men. To me and many others that means women in Canada and worldwide will no longer be bought and sold.

I have a clear vision of what Canada would look like if men no longer demeaned women by buying them for their own sexual gratification and further hindering the equality of women. Some would call me utopian; I would say I am determined.

I want men held accountable for dehumanizing women by thinking that by giving her money they can appease their guilt about taking advantage of her situation and raping her. The Vancouver Police Department and many others calls prostitution 'women's slavery,' and I stand in complete agreement with them.

I could not close this story without thanking Orato.com for providing me the opportunity to report on the Pickton trial. Through covering it I found out more of who I am and what I want my voice to say. I learned that regardless of my lack of a high school education, I can write...that the shame I had carried with me for so long because of my background was, in fact, not mine to bear. No, it should rest squarely on the shoulders of the men who took advantage of me.

With the help of the ever-patient Heather Wallace [5], my editor, I learned over time how to do basic editing and how to check for obvious flaws in my writing. I was then able to use those skills to help my son with his school project. In fact, one project I helped him with would impact him in many positive ways, for he would go on to the third level of competition in a speech writing and delivery competition...All because an online news magazine took a chance on an ex-hooker.

Orato.com has been accused of taking advantage of me by not paying me a wage, only for expenses, but an intern, which is what I was, does not get paid; he or she does it for the experience.

In January 2007 when the trial started I was feeling "in over my head," but now, there is nothing that intimidates me. I walk with my head higher, my words are clearer, my voice resonates with confidence and authority, my writing is something I am proud of, and I am a different, stronger, more articulate person. The trial experience for me could not be reduced to a mere monetary value.

So, for every person who loved me in a practical way - held my hand when I was scared, lifted my head up when I could not do it for myself, drove me to the hospital at 3 a.m. with sick kids, answered the phone at midnight when I was fighting the urge to screw up, saw in me what I could not see in myself and gave me opportunities to make better choices - with deep gratitude and much love, THANK YOU.

Also a special mention to fellow Orato.com Pickton correspondent Pauline VanKoll [6], who I did not always agree with, but who shared part of my journey in giving the lost women a voice.

It is not me who won this award; I am just the figure head of many, many amazing people.

*****

Read a tribute to Trisha Baptie by a woman who was instrumental in helping Trisha turn her life around: A Tribute To Courage To Come Back Award Recipient Trisha Baptie [7], by Amanda Goletto.