(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

remembering mmiwg2s on may 5

Red Dress Day to be observed in Red Deer twice on Friday

May 4, 2023 | 10:43 AM

There are two events happening in Red Deer on Friday to mark Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S) People.

According to the Government of Canada website, which cites the Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: 2015 Update to the National Operational Overview report by the RCMP, Indigenous women represent 10 per cent of the total population of women in Canada who have been missing for at least 30 days.

Between 1980 and 2014, there were 6,849 police-reported female homicide cases in Canada, it goes on. Among the total number of female victims, 16 per cent were Indigenous women.

Despite a declining homicide rate among Indigenous women by 2020, Statistics Canada says, the rate was still nearly twice that of non-Indigenous men and more than five times that of non-Indigenous women.

It’s believed more than 4,000 Indigenous women and girls were killed or went missing between 1980 and 2012.

New Schools

RDCRS approves 3-year capital plan which includes two new schools

11h ago

CELEBRATING COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENTS

Chinook's Edge celebrates multiple King Charles III Coronation Medal winners

11h ago

VALUES HIGHER THAN EXPECTED

Sylvan Lake town council to make budget adjustment following property assessments

13h ago

On Friday, from 9 a.m. to 12. p.m., the Red Deer Native Friendship Society is first holding ceremony and attendees will hear from different speakers at City Hall Park, before a walk to the Red Deer Museum where there will be a BBQ.

Then, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Shining Mountains Living Community Services is holding its own ceremony and walk, starting with the hanging of red dresses at City Hall Park. Following prayers, honor song and fiddling, there will be a presentation, food, and then a walk to close out the evening.

rdnewsNOW will have more coverage of this observance on Friday.

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the rdnewsNOW newsletter here. You can also download the rdnewsNOW mobile app in the Google Play and the Apple App Stores.