Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
The Indigenous People鈥檚 Circle of Jasper helped raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG) during Red Dress Day on May 5.
Members placed red dresses at both entrances to the town and performed a smudging ceremony in an impromptu event, one of many acts of solidarity that occurred across the country that day.
Joe Urie, a member of the Indigenous People鈥檚 Circle and the M茅tis nation, credited Mark Young with bringing all the members together at the last minute.
鈥淏y placing those red dresses at either entrance on the Jasper sign, it signifies to those people coming and going through the community that that鈥檚 who we are, a community that stands behind not just the memory of those people who鈥檝e been taken but of Indigenous women and girls and two spirits and women in general,鈥� Urie said.
This is the first time that the group has formerly observed Red Dress Day.
鈥淲e would hope that in the event that this is not remedied that it will become an event, that we will continue to open more eyes to the troubles,鈥� Urie said.
鈥淭his may be the first of many though again I hope it isn鈥檛, only because if it isn鈥檛, it means that this doesn鈥檛 happen anymore.鈥�
More than 1,000 Indigenous women have either gone missing or been murdered over the last three decades in Canada.
The federal government has yet to come up with an action plan, almost two years after the National Inquiry into MMIWG presented its final report.
鈥淓veryone is still waiting for it, especially those whose immediate loved ones are still missing,鈥� Urie said.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know that you鈥檇 be able to ever give any of them satisfaction, but at least if they saw some form of action plan, it might give them hope that what has happened to their loved ones isn鈥檛 going to happen to anybody else.鈥�
Urie also emphasized the need for those at the grassroot level to voice their opinion and throw their weight behind a cause that ensures these cases are treated as seriously as those of non-Indigenous victims.
鈥淲hy are we not committing the same resources to those murdered and missing Indigenous women? It鈥檚 that simple to me.鈥�
