Today, Monday, May 5th, marks the 15th annual Red Dress Day, a national movement and day of remembrance for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people (MMIWG2S+).
This movement began with the REDress Project, which was created by Métis artist Jaime Black in 2010.
Black began the movement, encouraging people to hang red dresses from trees and windows, wear red dress pins and earrings and paint red handprints across their faces.
Rallies and ceremonies erupted across Canada in support of this movement, honouring the lost MMIWG2S+ and creating more widespread awareness on the issue.
In 2019, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released—the result of two years of gathering information, testimonies of over 2,300 people impacted by the MMIWG2S+ crisis.
The mandate of this inquiry was to investigate the causes of violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and propose solutions to the issues they found most prevalent.
The resulting report contains 231 calls for justice, directed at governments, institutions, social services, industries and all Canadians.
Some of what the report found is that Indigenous women and girls are disproportionately victimized—making up only 5% of the country’s population, yet representing approximately 24% of all homicide victims in Canada.
According to the report, over 60% of Indigenous women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime.
In regards to violence, a Statistics Canada report found that 56% of Indigenous women will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime, which is more than double the rate for non-Indigenous people.
Additionally, Indigenous women make up 41.4% of the federally incarcerated women in the country, while only representing just over 4% of the Canadian female population.
MMIWG2S+ is classified as a human rights crisis in Canada, and Red Dress Day is honoured annually to bring more awareness of this ongoing issue to the forefront of Canadians’ minds.
This Red Dress Day, Christine Boyle, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, and Jennifer Blatherwick, parliamentary secretary for gender equity, have released a statement.
“Red Dress Day is a time of mourning to acknowledge the heartache of the family and friends of those taken too soon and a day to reinforce the need to end violence against Indigenous people,” said Boyle and Blatherwick.
“Indigenous women and girls are more likely to be murdered, assaulted or go missing than any other women in the country. It’s crucial that we persist in addressing the underlying issues of violence, such as colonialism, racism and misogyny. We will also continue to support Indigenous self-determination, safety planning and healing through Indigenous-led initiatives that promote capacity building and culturally safe approaches.”
In Victoria, the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations are hosting the ‘Our Women Are Sacred Walk’ from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning from 12 Hallowell Road, just off Admirals Road.
Participants are encouraged to wear red for the occasion.
For those who cannot make it to the walk, hanging a red dress from your residence or trees is a show of support and allyship to those impacted by the MMIWG2S+ crisis.
