Red Dress Day needs to go beyond just one day, say advocates in N.L.
National day of awareness was marked on Monday
Events this week across Newfoundland and Labrador are marking Red Dress Day, but advocates say discussion and education need to happen every day.
Red Dress Day, officially marked on Monday, is a national day of remembrance and awareness for missing and murdered, Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit People. The Assembly of First Nations says Indigenous women make up 16 per cent of women who are murdered in Canada, and 11 per cent of women who go missing.
The day has been marked since 2010, when Métis artist Jamie Black coined the term by using red dresses to represent those who were lost.
"Today is a hard day for our family, because it's a reminder of the challenges that we face as Indigenous people," Qalipu First Nation Chief Jenny Brake said during a gathering in Corner Brook on Monday. "It's a harsh reality."
In St. John's, First Light is hosting events throughout the week, including drop-in support sessions for members of the community.
Leah Randell, a cultural support worker with First Light, told CBC News that the day — and those before and after it — are challenging.
She says it's important to ensure that conversations around missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and gender-based violence continue throughout the year, coming from a place of awareness, education and understanding.
"We have to wrap around those supports as we fight for this to stop. We have to support our communities at the same time.… It's not just about putting a red dress up, it's about having the understanding," she said.
"This day is about also reaching out for judicial and systematic change so this does not have to continue happening. And as it is happening, still happening, we have to support our Indigenous communities and be there for them."
And although the day is challenging, Brake says it also highlights the important task of educating the community.
"It's hard, and it's heavy, and it's sometimes even hard to get out of bed to go at this kind of stuff," Brake said. "When we show up and support one another and lift each other up, we end that cycle of trauma…. If we don't stand tall together, then we will fall apart."
Quinn Jesso, an Indigenous member of the Bay of Islands 2SLGBTQ+ community, says conversations also have to include preserving the memories of those who have been lost.
"There's a lot of people who aren't going home. And we need to remember those people. We need to have their hopes and dreams with us," Jesso said.
"Because if they're not here to do it, we'll do it for them."
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With files from Colleen Connors and The St. John's Morning Show