“Using my training as a means of self-defense has given me the foundation to be able to advocate for MMIW,” Thompson says.
After being sexually harassed by a coworker while working toward her dream job as a detective in the summer of 2020, Thompson realized she needed to take her advocacy a step further to protect herself and others in similar situations. “I [was] so tired of our [Indigenous] women being told that we re victims, that we have to figure out how we re going to survive, and we re the ones that have to continue telling people about this epidemic and raising awareness about it,” she says.