Red Dress Day honoured in Lethbridge

Charlene Bruised Head-Mountain Horse, Indigenous Relations Advisory with the City of Lethbridge said the day is “not a celebration, but it’s an opportunity to create awareness and bring the community together in a positive way to acknowledge that this still is an issue.”

“There are many disproportionate numbers still being reported of murdered, missing Indigenous women, girls, men, two-spirited [peoples] and so on,” she added.

Regarding those missing and murdered, Bruised Head-Mountain Horse said, “We honour them, we recognize them, we remember them and we thank the Lethbridge community and the Blackfoot community, First Nations, Metis and Inuit [for] coming together, along with our partner organizations to honour this day.”

Echo Nowak, Indigenous Relations Specialist with the City of Lethbridge said the event helped raise important awareness about MMIWG.

Nowak said, “I think people like to believe that it’s not in our town, it’s not in our city, it’s not happening to us, but we need to make people aware that it is. It is our sisters, our brothers, our family members that are going missing and it’s not far away. It is here, it is in our city, and we need to do something about it.”

Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) advocate Selena Medicine Shield said about Friday’s event, “It means a lot to me to see everyone here today to witness everyone else share their stories.”

Medicine Shield added, “It is very important to speak about this problem and how it affects not only the person that passed away or has gone missing. It affects the whole family as well.”

She said raising awareness about MMIWG is a cause close to her heart. Medicine Shield’s grandmother, Gloria Black Plume, was murdered in 1999.

She commented, “To me, it is being able to be a voice for all Indigenous people who have gone missing or who have been murdered, especially my grandmother, just to represent her and tell her story. It’s very honouring to hear everyone else’s story as well.”

NATIONAL INQUIRY

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls was launched in 2015, in an effort to investigate and report on “systemic causes of all forms of violence against Indigenous women and girls”. These include social, economic, cultural, institutional, legislative, and other causes.

In 2019, the National Inquiry released its final report and 231 Calls for Justice. In response to this, the City of Lethbridge and partners developed the MMIWG Recommendations and Work Plan. It features 25 recommendations and a series of projects focused on reconciliation and addressing issues impacting Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples in the community.

A toolkit was also developed to help residents learn more about the traditional concepts of family and community life for Niitsitapiiaakiiks (Blackfoot women), Saipáí’tapiiaakiiks (Indigenous, Non-Blackfoot women) and Two-Spirit+ people. It can be accessed online.

by Justin Goulet with files from Christian Oldale

Red Dress Day honoured in Lethbridge

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