Red Dress Day is a day of remembrance and action to honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S). Each year on May 5, red dresses are hung in public spaces as a powerful reminder of the lives lost and the ongoing impacts of colonial and gender-based violence
Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people make up about 5 percent of Canada’s population but roughly 16 percent of all women who are murdered or go missing. These numbers are not just statistics – they are the result of centuries of colonialism, racism, and sexism that continue to push Indigenous people into unsafe housing, poverty, and precarious work, while police and governments have been too slow to act when they go missing or are harmed. For families left waiting, searching, and fighting for answers with little support and no clear path to justice, the weight of that failure is devastating.
Indigenous families, communities, and leaders continue to call for justice, safety, and accountability. PSAC echoes these calls, including in demanding thorough searches in cases like the Prairie Green landfill, and calls on governments at all levels to act.
From remembrance to real change
Justice means more than finding those who are missing. Ending this violence requires meaningful systemic change – safe housing, income security, health care, and community-led support – and confronting the racism and sexism embedded in policing, child welfare, and the justice system. It means governments finally acting on the Calls for Justice so that Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people can live with the safety and dignity they deserve.
Real change starts with all of us.
Here are three things you can do today:
- Share the 231 Calls for Justice and invite members to read at least one Call connected to their sector.
- Reflect on the Call for Justice 15.1. and what “denounce and speak out against violence” looks like in your workplace.
- On May 5, leave one chair empty with a red dress or red ribbon to honour missing loved ones.
- Wear red on May 5 and take a group photo to share in solidarity.
This article was first published on the PSAC website.
