May 5 was National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People, also known as Red Dress Day. Across Canada, and in Lac La Biche, people remembered and honoured those who lost their lives to violence.
The Red Dress Day event took place in the wanîskah room at the Lac La Biche Portage College campus from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Attendees listened to stories shared by guest speakers.
A red dress, a symbolic image which represents the pain and loss felt by victims, their families, and survivors, was on display for people to sign. The REDress Project was created by Métis artist Jaimie Black.
The Red Dress Day event, which was hosted this year in Lac La Biche by Portage College and Lac La Biche County, also included a soup and Bannock lunch.
Robert Rayko, the Cultural and Community Facilitator at Portage College, said by hosting events such as Red Dress Day in memory of murdered and missing Indigenous women, organizers are hoping that their voices will be found, the women will be found, and perpetrators are then held accountable for their actions.
“We’re here honouring all those women and their families who had no voice,” Rayko told Lakeland This Week.
Indigenous people, he explained, have experienced a lot of trauma, and events like Red Dress Day help non-Indigenous people to understand about what has happened and why there is a fight to bring justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
“These women did not ask for that…these women did not ask to be murdered or abused in any way…they are human, and they were people, and they were part of our Indigenous families,” he stated. “So, we want people to have an understanding that this is why we do these events, to give them a voice, and to have people aware of what’s going on.”
Tara Cardinal, from the Athabasca area, spoke of the significance of Red Dress Day, saying it acknowledges the ongoing national crisis for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited people.
Cardinal explained there is a new hashtag campaign for murdered and missing Indigenous relatives that also brings in the men and the boys that have been taken as well.
“Today is just a day to remember those who were taken from this world, and who were taken from their families too soon,” she said. “It’s also informing them of the crisis that we’re going through all across Canada, and this is definitely a day for them to be a part of it as well,” she said.
Berna Barore was among the large group that attended and shared his own experience. She was a witness at the inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019, speaking on behalf of her sister, who went missing on March 28, 2008, and whose body was found just over one week later.
“I was okay being a witness up there talking about my sister,” Barore said, adding that to date, authorities have not found out what happened to her sister. “It’s still hard to talk about it.”
Assembly of First Nations information indicates Indigenous women make up four per cent of Canada’s total population, but account for 16 per cent of all female homicides, and 11 per cent of all missing persons cases.
The final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was released in 2019. It noted, “You were taken, but you are not forgotten; your lives, dreams, hopes and losses are now forever a part of Canada’s living history.”
