"In 1979, I was 19. As a representative of the Yukon Indian's Women Association I went to Montreal, to the Oka reserve. I went with people like Sandra Lovelace and the women's organization from that reserve from Ontario. We walked from Montreal to Ottawa to fight for Native women's rights because women were being treated unjustly compared to men. And the kids were being kicked off the reserve. When I came home I realized women weren't being recognized here too... if they were non-status then they were less than, that was so unjust. So many women, my mother, my aunties, my mother's friends. They all worked together, they came together on a grassroots level. They said, this is wrong, this is unjust, we got to take care of this business. They wanted to correct what was going on."

In 1980, the Yukon Native Brotherhood and Yukon Association of Non-status Indians merged to form one organization, the Council for Yukon Indians. This new group was to represent all Yukon First Nations people and their interests.