Red Dress Day Raises Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls – 90.5 Exeter Today
May 5, 2025
On Monday, May 5, local groups Huron DART and Stop VAW Perth will take part in Red Dress Day to help raise awareness about the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people across Canada. Rates of intimate partner violence and gender-based violence continue to rise, and Indigenous communities are impacted the most.
Red Dress Day started in 2010 when Métis artist Jaime Black created a powerful display by hanging hundreds of empty red dresses in public places. Each dress stands for an Indigenous woman, girl, or two-spirit person who is missing or was murdered. This year marks 15 years since the movement began.
In 2019, after a three-year investigation, the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls released a final report called Reclaiming Power and Place. It includes 231 Calls for Justice, asking governments, police services, and all Canadians to take action. The report points to colonialism, racism, and gendered violence as the causes of the crisis.
