Red dress display in Baden honours Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

By Nigel Gordijk  Thursday, May 5, 2022

(Photo: Nigel Gordijk)

A single red dress was placed outside the Township of Wilmot’s administration building on May 5 to mark the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Red Dress Day is inspired by the work of Métis artist Jaime Black, who displayed empty red dresses at the University of Winnipeg in 2010 to honour the Indigenous women in Canada who have been lost to violence.

The dress in Baden was donated anonymously last year by a local Indigenous woman who said at the time that red dresses were hung on May 5 “to display the violence against Indigenous women. Some are as young as me and 16-years-old.”

Indigenous women’s groups estimate that there are more than 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women. From 1997 to 2000, the homicide rate for Indigenous women was almost seven times higher than for non-Indigenous women.