May 5 is Red Dress Day, the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people. It is a day to call attention to the critical need for action to address the disproportionate violence they face, as well as honour victims and support impacted families.
At an event held at MSVU, President and Vice-Chancellor Dr. Joël Dickinson called on attendees to take the day to listen and stand in solidarity with those who work in pursuit of justice and healing change. Hosted by the Indigenous Student Centre and the Red Dress Day planning team, the event saw the McCain Atrium transformed into a drop-in, interactive space where attendees could engage with important conversations around awareness, remembrance, and advocacy.
“Indigenous girls, women and two spirited individuals are more likely than non-indigenous women to be victims of violence. With the 2019 inquiry, 231 calls for justice were identified and as of 2025 only two have been fulfilled,” noted event organizer and Indigenous Student Advisor at MSVU, Kayla Bernard. She asked attendees to, “Approach each station [at the event] with an open mind and a heart filled with curiosity, and to understand that the stations may evoke emotion through reflection.”
At the stations, attendees could reflect on identity and language, view documentaries and videos, contribute to creative displays by creating felt red dresses, take action by creating and writing postcards to send to decision makers, string beads in remembrance of those lost, and engage in a quiet moment of reflection. In the lead up to May 5, red dresses were donated by the campus community for a temporary installation in and around the McCain Centre as reminders of the lives lost.
Red Dress Day was borne out of the ongoing art project started in 2010 called The REDress Project by Jaime Black, a Métis multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg. The red dresses act as a visual reminder of those who are missing or who have been murdered. In 2019, Canada established May 5 as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWGS+).
