Ottawa marks Red Dress Day to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

May 5 is Red Dress Day, the national day to honour and bring awareness to missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

On Friday, community members gathered across the national capital region to remember the lives of those who have been lost.

Inuk throat singing echoed through Ottawa’s Centertown neighbourhood. Songs of strength, the singing for those who cannot. 

Red dresses hang on trees, a symbol of lost lives, at a candlelight vigil in a park that bears the name of Inuk artist Annie Pootagook, whose death was declared suspicious by police.

"Annie Pootoogook is such an inspiration to our communities and what message does it send with what happened to her. What message does that send to our children that no matter how high up they make it, it doesn’t matter," says Mikka Komaksiutisak with Tungasuvvingat Inuit. "And that’s why we’re here today to protect our children from future harm and to stop this from happening with our community. You wake up and you see on the news that the remains of a missing community member was found and that’s not okay."

"I’m here to honour the memory of my cousin David’s daughter, a young lady by the name of Savanna Pikuyak who was murdered while apartment hunting in Ottawa," Sara Arnatsiaq said.

Savanna Pikuyak, a nursing student who had moved from Nunavut, was killed on Sept. 11, 2022. She had moved into an apartment and did not know her roommate. Nikolas Ibey has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to Pikuyak's death.

"I am here to honour her memory and the other women and girls that have gone missing or have been murdered," Arnatsiaq said. "This does not have to happen anymore. It should not be happening anymore, so this is a powerful way of getting the word out that this is wrong, that this has to stop."

Sixty-three per cent of Indigenous women have experienced violence and nearly half have experienced sexual assault, according to a 2022 Statistics Canada report.

"This is a genocide and it stems from systemic racism within society that we have to live today," says Brandy Stanovich, MMIWG2S+ Manager with the Native Women's Association of Canada. "It’s very important to understand the history, understand the causes around it and understand the work that needs to be done."

On Friday, the NWAC hosted youth council members from across the country, who discuss, share and ultimately help to resolve the individual issues faced in each province and territory.

A new painting unveiled, which will be added to the NWAC MMIWG2S+ Vault Exhibition Space, including a large panel of handcrafted dolls, made by family members of missing and murdered loved ones. 

"This was painted by a Mi’Kmaq artist Alan Syliboy in honour of MMIWG2S+," Stanovich said. "He painted this so Creator will always find them. It’s called, All Women Not in This World and it says 'They are tendered from the Creator and others will return,' and that means they will find them all they might not be here to talk and we might not be able to see them but they are here in spirit."

For Arnatsiaq, days like this are the beginning of a conversation that she says needs to continue all year long.

"Changing attitudes, changing mindsets and appreciating life," she says. "More awareness and more power and the change will eventually come."