Original source (on modern site)
Posted May 5, 2024 6:57 pm. Sunday marked Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day for Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S). This year, at Toronto Metropolitan University, the school put together their first outdoor Red Dress Day exhibit. The pieces of scarlet clothing unearth a painful part of her family's history for one local resident. "My little sister is on the list, she was murdered in the '60s, and there's no justice for her," said Bernice Lengarde, who has multiple family members on the MMIWG2S list. "I also have cousins who are on the list, and their murders remain unsolved." Red Dress Day was inspired by an installation project by Métis artist Jamie Black. The stark exhibit aimed to highlight the horrors many Indigenous women and girls have had to endure in their lives. "It helps educate those who don't know about the MMIWG2S, it helps them to understand that as Indigenous people, what we've had to live with, and what we have to go through every day, and all these things are still happening today," said Lengarde. In a report last year, Statistics Canada said between 2009 and 2021, the homicide rate among Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than their non-Indigenous counterparts. A national inquiry five years ago found that they are also 12 times more likely to go missing or murdered. Many advocates have continued to sound the alarm on this horrific trend for years, with little movement until last week. On Friday, Canada and Manitoba announced a partnership for a Red Dress Alert system that would inform the public when an Indigenous woman or girl is reported missing. Local resident Leslie Johnston also took time on Sunday to remember the victims, saying the community and governments can do more to be better allies. "We've had calls to action … and yet they've not been implemented, and it's really upsetting and disappointing. We expect the calls to action to be implemented," said Johnston. The exhibit at Toronto Metropolitan University will be open to the public until Monday at 5:00 p.m., where the display will conclude with a berry offering for the spirits.