An installation of red dresses in Comox Valley, B.C. in 2017 to honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). (Photo 156735215 © Staceylynn67 | Dreamstime.com)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

may 5

Red Dress Day in Red Deer to honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Apr 29, 2022 | 11:13 AM

Red dresses will hang around Red Deer this May 5 to mark the National Day of Awareness and Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

There will also be a memorial event held that day at Red Deer City Hall Park.

Itinerary

8:00 a.m.: Hanging of red dresses
10:00 a.m.: Opening ceremonies including prayers, Honor song, fiddling, and welcomes
11:00 a.m.: Walk with Red Feather Women to Red Deer Museum
11:30 a.m.: Presentation by Melanie Omeniho, president, Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak
12:30 p.m.: Potluck lunch at museum

Raye St. Denys, executive director at Shining Mountains Living Community Services, spoke to rdnewsNOW about the symbolism of the red dress.

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“For all Indigenous ladies, the red dress has always been really important. The reason we hang them empty is to symbolize that there should be bodies in these dresses,” says St. Denys, a Métis Elder.

“My message for anyone planning to attend or take part somehow, or anyone reading this, is that our women should not be targets. Their needs to be more respect for our women and girls, and young boys too, for that matter. There’s no excuse for the rates of violence against us.”

In summer 2021, the federal government committed $180 million towards programs that will support that national MMIWG action plan — a document which has received much criticism for not being good enough since being released last June.

The plan (which can be viewed here) contains 231 Calls for Justice, and came in response to the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, released in June 2019, as well as the report entitled Métis Perspectives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and LGBTQ2S+ People, released in June 2019 by Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO).

The inquiry found that Indigenous women and girls represented approximately 16 per cent of all female homicide victims between 1980 and 2012, despite accounting for just over four per cent of the female population.

It also found that Indigenous women are 16-times likelier to be killed or go missing than white women.

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