Giselle Aiabens, Indigenous enrolment advisor, displays a beaded pin created in a workshop she led Tuesday for staff in the Welcome Centre. Participants will wear their beadworks in the shape of a red dress in the period leading up to Red Dress Day. “It’s a learning opportunity for these members of our community, and a teaching opportunity for them to spread awareness of its significance,” Aiabens says.
Red Dress Day is a day of remembrance, but also an opportunity to take action, says Beverly Jacobs.
Senior advisor to the president on Indigenous relations and outreach and an associate professor in the Faculty of Law, she says the May 5 observance helps to bring awareness of the critical levels of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across Canada.
Inspired by an installation by Métis artist Jaime Black which placed red dresses in public spaces throughout the country, participants in the grassroots movement hang red dresses from windows and trees to represent the loss felt by families and survivors.
“It’s a visual reminder of the really high numbers of Indigenous women and also two-spirited, lesbian, and gay members of our community suffering the impact of colonization and the genocide against Indigenous people,” says Dr. Jacobs. She researched and wrote the 2004 “Stolen Sisters” report for Amnesty International that brought international attention to the issue and identified it as a human rights violation.
A national inquiry issued hundreds of calls for justice that are still waiting to be implemented, Jacobs says: “We need people to learn and understand this history to turn awareness into action.”
Watch for red dresses displayed across the campus through the weekend.
The Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre will host an Honour Ceremony to reflect on the significance of Red Dress Day on Sunday, May 5. The event, at 2929 Howard Ave., runs 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with the ceremony at noon and refreshments to follow. It is open to the campus community.
To learn more, watch Jacobs’ TEDx talk “How do we stop Aboriginal Women from Disappearing.”