Red Dress Day Canada Missing and Murdered Women Girls 2Spirit Two-Spirit Trans vigil march event Montreal
News

Today is Red Dress Day in Canada

by Lorraine Carpenter

Raising awareness about violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people in this country.

May 5 is Red Dress Day across Canada, a day to commemorate as well as raise awareness about the disproportionate number of murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people in this country.

The national inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women found that “persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses” were the root causes of these rates of violence. The report called for justice and for changes to social services, the justice system and other areas where systemic racism exists in Canada.

Red dresses began to be used as a symbol for the tragic disappearances and death of Indigenous women in 2011 with the REDress Project by Winnipeg-based Métis artist Jaime Black, as recently explored by Vogue.

Today, messages and comments to mark Red Dress Day were shared by Indigenous organizations, politicians and even the RCMP, whose historical and even contemporary relationship with the First Nations community in this country is troubling, to say the least.

For the latest news updates, please visit the News section.

Posted in News

by Lorraine Carpenter

Editor in chief
Lorraine Carpenter was born in Montreal and studied communications and journalism at Concordia. She co-founded Cult MTL in 2012 following 12 years at the now-defunct Montreal alt weekly the Mirror, where she worked in editorial as copy editor and music editor. She’s dedicated to supporting the cultural scene in Montreal.