May 5, 2025
Red Dress Day takes place every year on May 5, marking the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender and Gender-Diverse Peoples (MMIWG2S+) in Canada.
What is Red Dress Day?
Red Dress Day is a day to honour, remember, and respect MMIWG2S+. It’s a day to raise awareness about MMIWG2S+ and about the National Inquiry.
This day began as “an aesthetic response to more than 1,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada” by Jaime Black, a Métis visual artist. The red dresses serve as a stark visual reminder of all MMIWG2S+. The dresses are empty, evoking the MMIWG2S+ who should be wearing them.
The colour red was chosen after Jamie Black had a conversation with an Indigenous friend who shared with her: “(Red) is really a calling back of the spirits of these women and allowing them a chance to be among us and have their voices heard through their family members and community.” Red also symbolizes “our lifeblood and that connection between all of us,” and both vitality and violence.
You can mark the day and help build awareness of this ongoing harm and honour those we have lost and their families by:
- Read and share the MMIWG Final Report and the Calls to Justice
- Wearing red on May 5th and posting it to social media – use hashtags such as: #MMIWG, #MMIWG2S+, #RedDressDay, #WhyWeWearRed, and #NoMoreStolenSisters
- Support any vigils, walks, events or discussions that your community may be holding
- Hang a red dress in your window or in your yard
About MMIWG2S+
- Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender and Gender-Diverse Peoples (MMIWG2S+) refers to the human right crisis of the high and disproportionate rates of violence and number of missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, Transgender and Gender-Diverse Peoples in Canada.
- Indigenous women and girls are five times more likely to experience violence than any other population in Canada and this violence tends to result in more serious harm.
- Indigenous women make up 16% of all female homicide victims, and 11% of missing women, even though Indigenous Peoples only make up 4.3% of the population of Canada.
- Violence against Indigenous women and girls is systemic and a national crisis that requires urgent, informed and collaborative action.
- Current public data on MMIWG2S+ oversimplifies and underrepresents the scale of the issue, yet still demonstrates a complex and pervasive pattern of violence against Indigenous women and girls who are often targeted because of their gender and Indigenous identity.
- The 2014 RCMP Operational Overview notes that police recorded 1,017 incidents of Aboriginal female homicides between 1980 and 2012 and 164 missing Indigenous female investigations dating back to 1952. There have been a number of reports indicating numbers are significantly higher.
- From 2001 to 2014 the average rate of homicides involving Indigenous female victims was four times higher than that of homicides involving non-Indigenous female victims in Canada.
National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
In September 2016, the Government of Canada established an independent National Inquiry under the federal Inquiries Act.
The National Inquiry’s Final Report reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The report calls for transformative legal and social changes to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities across the country.
The Final Report is comprised of the truths of more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and Knowledge Keepers shared over two years of cross-country public hearings and evidence gathering. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.
How to help
Stay educated and up to date:
- Learn about Indigenous Canadian history from the Indigenous perspective
- Read the Final Report from the National Inquiry
- Listen to the truths shared
- Acknowledge human and Indigenous rights violation and their impact
- Read their stories and uplift their legacies
Become an ally:
- Continue to educate yourself and conduct meaningful research
- Support others in every relationship and encounter you take part in
- Support the community – Amplify the voices of BIPOC
- Be respectfully active in the community
- Actively work to break down barriers
Speak out against racism, sexism, ignorance, homophobia and transphobia in the home, workplace and community, and encourage others to do the same.
MMIWG2S+ Resources & Reading
Podcasts
- The Truth Sharing Podcasts: The Truth Sharing Podcasts is a project inspired by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, that gives life to the truth and creates a living legacy of commemoration. This series of podcasts visited five Canadian communities to seek out and give voice to those who have experienced loss, examine the ways in which those affected are trying to heal, and shine a light on those trying to bring about positive change.
- Taken the Podcast: a moving and emotional 10-part series that honours the stories and tries to uncover the truths behind Canada’s unresolved cases of MMIWG2S+
- She’s Gone: The disappearance and death of Dorothy Ann Woods, parts 1 & 2
Fact Sheets
From Native Women’s Association of Canada
Resources
- KAIROS Canada – Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls InfoHub
- Aboriginal Alert is a resource that shares information about missing individuals in Canada. The organization works with other groups to provide resources and support for individuals who are in need and are seeking help.
- RCMP Missing Persons Unit – contact the Sergeant in Charge. People often think that they have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing but they should report missing persons as soon as possible.
- National Missing Persons DNA Program (NMPDP) helps with missing persons and unidentified remains investigations by combining support from:
- The program allows the NDDB to:
- retain or compare DNA profiles from non-criminal missing persons or unidentified remains investigations
- offer closure to families and friends of missing persons by identifying human remains or exhausting all investigative avenues
- Crisis Line: 1 (844) 413-6649