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Witness protection - living life from NOW on · Divas That Care Network

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Blob Talk Radio.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning, divas.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: My name is Candice Gish, and I'm the host of Divas That Care.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry for our technical difficulties this morning.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: We were having some challenges, and I'm wondering if it's our crazy weather.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for any of you that just tuned in for the very first time, my name is Candice Gish, and I'm the host of the Divas That Care I was mentioning.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we've been going now for nine years.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: We're just so excited to be able to have this show so that we can share with you all of these amazing women that we have the opportunity Diva's That Care This is going to be a little bit of a different show for our listeners today.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not going to really say too much.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to let our guest share that with you.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm going to let you know that her name is Bella.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: And Bella has a very inspiring story that she's going to be sharing with all of you today.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome to the show, Bella.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just beyond excited to have you as my guest.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the show, Bella.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, thanks for having me, Candice.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love you to share your story with all of our listeners today.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: That would be my pleasure to do that.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Where to begin, I guess.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I really want the listeners to take away the triumph of the story.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: We all have...
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: crappy things happen to us all the time and we usually work through them with support and guidance and I'm no different than anybody else first and foremost I do have a little bit of a unique story having said that where I was in a situation that put my life at stake and I rose through that to put my assailant in jail.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was about five years ago when I took a severe beating and I was left basically on the side of a road in a desolate area.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I crawled literally on a gravel road to safety.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the system didn't quite work well for me.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: But what ended up happening was I was placed into a witness protection program.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Not a lot of people go into that program, thankfully, because it's not anything like you see on TV.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's no glamour.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's no glitz.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: You're ripped away from your family, your home, your life.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're put into a strange land with No family, no friends, no connections, zero.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: And you're told to live your life, go for it.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: For me, there was a lot of therapy involved with that, a lot of rehabilitation physically.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And once I got to where I am today, living wise, there was...
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: a lot of times where moments would come back in my memory.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it took probably about four years to gather up most of my memory recollection.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And in the meantime, I had to deal with being separated from my only daughter Being away from all of my siblings, I'm the youngest of eight, and we're a huge, huge loving family.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: We spend all our time together celebrating everything from today's sunshine to anniversaries and so forth.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: So being alone in a strange land, starting over, I'm nothing, not even my own name, was a real challenge.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that is huge, isn't it?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, not a lot of people, our listeners, are like, wow.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't have the opportunity to listen to a story like yours.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not...
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not a sad story in a lot of ways.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about what you've learned from that and where it's taking you to this date.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: So what I learned first and foremost as a victim is that you can only stay in that place for so long if you're going to survive.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: And you need to kind of rise above that victim mentality and see what it is that got you to survive I mean I didn't lay down and die that day although I sure as heck could have something inside of me gave me the strength and I had to grab hold of that strength from way down inside and I needed to do something with that strength so I started to channel that in a way that I could connect myself to my family I thought of something that I know to be true in humans that we love to eat and that breaking bread together is very traditional.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's very basic.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it feeds us in a way that not just nourishes our body, but it nourishes our soul.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:54
  UNKNOWN: And
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And to me, that's how we grew up.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was a very poor Ukrainian family, very poor.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: So most of our time was spent gardening and around the kitchen table.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we got to do activities outside and get the sunshine and do all those kinds of things together.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: We got to reap our rewards at the end when we harvested.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then we got to really see the appreciation for that food when we sat around the table eating it.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: And we get to see all of these smiling faces and all of those, hmm, darn good, mom, yeah, pass that gravy down the side, whatever.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: It was fun.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was good.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: It was like completion, full circle.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's kind of how my life is.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: It came full circle.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so today I get to serve Greater Victoria with my food and from my heritage, from my family.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm sharing traditions that go back to my family to like 1800s.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm making pierogies, homemade, fresh, authentic, Ukrainian, hand-pinched.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Mmm, they're delicious.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: They come from my mom and my baba.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how much greater can it be, right?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like, it's just good soul food.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: And people are eating it up, and they're getting to know me in the process.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, and I also get to not only serve them that, but I've taken it a step further.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I thought, you know, my mom and dad were really about teaching and really about carrying out tradition and making sure you don't forget.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like Christmas wasn't about a whole bunch of wrapped presents.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: Christmas was a little paper bag with an apple and orange, maybe a couple of candies, some peanuts and a dollar bill, maybe five if you're really lucky.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: That was our present.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like that was what we got.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: So this whole, you know, commercialized gift giving is really foreign.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, because we shared other things.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: We shared food.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: We shared time.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: We shared laughter.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: We shared songs.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're very, very traditional.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we were poor.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: So we had to figure out ways to entertain ourselves.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: We were still human beings after all.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we wanted excitement.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted excitement.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted some drama.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: We wanted some action.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we had to figure out ways to do that.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's perfect, though.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what a way to connect with a family.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to kind of go back a little bit here, Bella.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know our listeners are probably like, okay, she shared a story.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I want to make it clear to our listeners today that you are still under the Witness Protection Program, correct?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: To a degree.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: To
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: a degree.
• 9:53
  UNKNOWN: Okay.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: a degree.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I think the system, like I said, the system really failed me.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's my mission as a person who's lived through witness protection to actually introduce a law that's called the Victim's Bill of Rights.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's my mission.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we're going to do.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because what happens in all of that is that I have to hide for the rest of my life, even though I only get protection for X amount of time.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Then it's up to me to make sure I stay safe.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: So I am in witness protection to the extent where I still have contact with them.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: I can still go to them for things that arise from my memory recalls that still happen to this day.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I can still bring forward charges if I wanted.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because of the way that the assault happened.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: I was knocked unconscious.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have the ability to defend.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: There was nobody around that was willing to stand up for me.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: They allowed it to happen.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: So what happens when people collude?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: before a trial, what happens when a victim is by themselves and only has their honor to stand on?
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: What happens when the defense lawyer comes in and brutally attacks the victim?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: What happens when the defense or the crown attorney who are supposed to represent that victim don't prepare the victim for that type of an attack?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: What happens when they collapse under pressure What happens when they have to stare down their assailant in a room for hours?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: What happens?
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Those types of things, those hard questions, those are the ones that need to be asked.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the ones that need to be protected.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you a question?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: You sure can.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've dealt with this.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Is this something that's quite...
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: a lot of people are dealing with this.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is that, would I be assuming correctly, is that it's not a new thing, it happens all the time across Canada?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: It does happen all the time across Canada.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: And from my witness protection handlers, I'm told that me, myself, and I, I'm in the very top percentage of a very short list of people who are actually successful through the witness protection program.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: And what they mean by that is that is do people go back to their previous identities?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Do they return back to their previous lives?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do they become successful and independent and carry on their lives as it's been, I guess, presented to them?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Very, very, very few people do that.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have the percentages, but these are things that will come up because I am writing a book and I'm doing some healing through some poetry that's coming out as well.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm working on getting that victim bill of rights introduced.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of work ahead of us.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: So the way that I was handled is absolutely indicative and systematically how everybody gets handled through that system.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens is that, you know, for myself personally, My assailant didn't even face the crimes that he committed against me because there was a backdoor deal struck.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: So two people, the Crown and the defense, decided amongst themselves that they had better knowledge than a judge and 12 peers to go to trial to decide how to handle this vicious repeat offender.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: And so they decided that he had over 43 charges against him, several of which included my assault in various ways.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: However, he only went to jail for about five charges.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: And my assault was used as a tool to with the defense and the crown to barter so that he wouldn't have that on his record and he could go and serve a lesser sentence.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: On other crimes that involve weapons.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the crown and the defense decided that the weapons charges were more valid and would have greater consequence for him than to allow the crime that actually happened get tried.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: So their backdoor deal, crap, that's got
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: to
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: go.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Why do we have laws in place if a judge, a judge, a judge who is supposed to be very superior in our judicial system allows people to decide the fate of an individual when it clearly affects others, not just that one person.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: And obviously it happens more than not.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: It happens a lot.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: And this is why a lot of victims don't come forward.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Why go through all of that just to say, eh, you know what, we made a deal.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: and we decided.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: and your charge ain't going through and he's going to go and do whatever.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I love what you're doing though.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: I love that you're working towards the
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: Victim's
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Bill of Rights.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think that is such a positive thing and a positive spin on the things that you've gone through.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: When I had the opportunity to meet you, it was about seven months ago, eight months ago, I was blown away when I had the opportunity to listen to your story and hear the entire story of it and it brought tears to my eyes and that fact that you had to leave your family.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think it almost destroyed me.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I couldn't imagine what you've gone through in order to leave your family all behind.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: One of my things is that I love what you've taken from it and how you've now built your business and you're working to support people and to help people.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that one day that you will be reunited with your family and to be able to do the things that you want to do?
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm totally going to do all of that, of course.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: I do get to see my family.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wonderful.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: We just have to meet in different locations and stuff like that, or they have to come here.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't go there to visit them, obviously.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: On certain occasions, I have gone back, but those are very few and far between.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: So...
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: the hardest thing was definitely leaving my daughter right I only have one and even though she is an adult she's still my baby yes but we had decided as a family that it was better that she have a mom that's alive than a mom that's dead and so I had to take this new identity and move otherwise I would be gone from the earth period yes When I was in protection, and he served only 12 months or something like that in a minimum penitentiary on a farm, basically.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: And when he got out, within three months, he found me via the internet within 50 kilometers of my new location, two provinces away from where we were.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So then I had to be taken back home have my identity changed go through all of that and then once again move even further away to start this life that I have today wow so it was a real you know a lot of people oh you just had your name changed you didn't have to go through facial changes or anything like that well Being a proud Ukrainian and the baby of a family who is such, who has raised us with so much love, that namesake to me is everything.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that got ripped away from me as well.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just a name.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's my namesake.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's my family.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so today when I'm sharing my my pierogies and when I share my cabbage rolls and when I teach the classes that I get to do today I remember that I'm doing it for a greater cause and I remember that these are the things these are the hands that brought me so much joy in the past and they're going to continue to do that for others in the future Oh, wow.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, Bella, we thank you so much.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just beyond grateful that you have come to our show to share your story.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was a pleasure to meet with you and to listen to you.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're an amazing speaker.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that you'll be able to come back onto our show, too, once your book is finished and we can share more with our listeners about your book and where they can pick it up and read it.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's been my pleasure,
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Candice.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Can I ask you one more thing, Bella, if you would?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Could you leave today– can we leave today with some tips, things you'd like to share with our listeners?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: So as a female in the world and in the universe, we are just by nature very– outgoing people because we bring life to the earth right so as human beings i just want to make sure that we really respect ourselves first and foremost and whatever that means for you don't take for granted the life that you have it's been given to you for a very specific reason find that reason and live each day with purpose for that reason and when you can connect those dots And you can celebrate really who you are.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: You're just going to find that the shade of glasses that you've been wearing is going to change.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: And you get to see the universe and you get to see the people around you in a whole new way.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Just simply by doing a couple little self-care tips for yourself.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: Giving yourself that love, that respect that you deserve.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And not taking for granted what you have.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think those three little things make a world of difference for everybody that you connect with.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was such a pleasure having you today, Bella.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, this was such a great show.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to leave our listeners today.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to support Bella, her website is pierogipinchersofvictoria.ca.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to be posting that on all of our social media links so that you can check out her amazing website.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Bella, it has been such a pleasure.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to have you back on our show in the future because I know that you've got so much to share with everyone.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks a lot, Candice.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: I look forward to the call and I'm going to hold you to it.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: You definitely have to.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you to all of our amazing listeners.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's because of you that we've continued to do this program now for nine years.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: And we have the opportunity to talk with these amazing divas out there, the ones that have these stories that they want to share with you.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we are just so grateful and blessed that Each and every one of them has come onto our program to share with you.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: And you can check out all of those recorded programs on our DivasThatCare.com website.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope that you were able to take these calls and send them to your friends and families because they are so inspirational.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: They are so empowering.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And all these women want to change the world.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So again, thank you so much for tuning into the Divas That Care Network.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that each and every one of you has an amazing day.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, please do something kind for somebody out there.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.
• 22:58
  UNKNOWN: Bye.