Recognizing Red Dress Day

May 5 is Red Dress Day – the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). It is a day to honour the lives taken, support families and survivors and renew our collective commitment to justice.

Red Dress Day started in 2010 when Métis artist Jaime Black began the REDress Project in response to an ongoing crisis often ignored by non-Indigenous people. The red dress symbolizes loss and remembrance, making absence visible and honouring the lives of those missing or murdered.

The REDress Project also invites reflection on the harms of colonial violence and how we might redress the harms of Indigenous-specific racism and misogyny that continue to endanger the lives of Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.

From Recognition to Action

BCNU’s responsibility to redress these harms informed the theme of the union’s 2025 human rights and equity conference. Entitled Gender and Care – Change Through Collective Action, the event invited members to examine how gender-based violence is sustained through colonialism, racism, misogyny and transphobia.

Presenter and matriarch Gena Edwards from Ts’kw’aylaxw in the Stl’atl’imx Nation challenged attendees to reflect on collective action needed to address the crisis of MMIWG2S, which is rooted in colonization and systemic inequity. Edwards cited Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and its 231 Calls for Justice. The 2019 report reveals that Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people face disproportionately high rates of violence, disappearance and homicide. It also outlines urgent actions to address colonial violence and uphold their rights. Edwards told conference attendees that only two of the final report’s Calls for Justice have been answered, underscoring the lack of progress on the national inquiry’s recommendations.

Following the ratification of the 2022-2025 Nurses’ Bargaining Association provincial collective agreement, members can look to Article 2, Purpose of Agreement, which references the Calls for Justic and establishes a roadmap for how union members can act in solidarity with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples across Turtle Island and redress the harms of colonial violence.

Take Action

This Red Dress Day, let us all recommit to redressing the harms of colonial, gender-based violence.

Attend a May 5 Red Dress Day event

• Red Dress Day Ceremony 
  1 p.m. PT; šxʷhék̓ ʷnəs (Spirit Square) 11985 Harris Rd., Pitt Meadows
• Red Dress Day 
  1–3 p.m. PT; Hyack Square, New Westminster
• Red Dress Day Gathering | Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc 
  10 a.m. – 2 p.m. PT; Moccasin Square Garden 357 Chief Alex Thomas Way, Kamloops

Hang a Red Dress

Hang a red dress, shirt, or piece of fabric in a window or outside your home as a visual reminder.

Wear Red

Wear red clothing or red beaded jewelry made by an Indigenous artist to show solidarity.