Red dresses were hung from trees and signs on Sunday afternoon in the fountain park in downtown Wallaceburg, to honour and remember the “stolen sisters.”
Walpole Island resident Nancy Peters spearheaded the initiative on October 4 to mark the national day of remembrance for missing and murdered indigenous women.
“All across Canada there is vigils to honour the lives of these women that were taken,” Peters told the Sydenham Current. “There was a project that was started, created about five years ago by a Métis artist and her name is Jamie Black. She started the project which is called the ‘Red Dress Project‘. She created that as an aesthetic response to the national issue of aboriginal women across Canada.”
Peters added: “She is an artist based in Winnipeg and for the past couple of weeks her exhibit was installed at the Canadian Museum of Human Rights in her home town of Winnipeg. There at her exhibit red dresses hang throughout the empty room of the exhibit. They draw focus to who isn’t there but should be so that the lives of theses women that were taken suddenly by the violence against them.”
Peters said Black had chosen red for the dresses because how symbolic it is for aboriginal people.
“You know it’s the sacred colour to many Indigenous people and it’s also symbolic of life blood and women’s power to give life as well as an illusion to gender violence and spilled blood,” she said. “So she created this sort of art exhibit to commemorate these women who are missing or murdered. She had asked that people not only in her home town of Winnipeg participate in the project on their own but even all across Canada just by simply wearing a red dress on October 4th or hanging a red dress, maybe in your front yard or from your business, your workplace or even in just a public area such as the fountain park because her main goal of the project was to reach as many people as possible. The people who aren’t necessarily artists, activists or aboriginal just in general the public can show the dresses and create a kind of dialogue around the critical and national issue of missing and murdered Indigenous Women.”
Peters said the local event held in Wallaceburg was last minute, but she was still impressed by the support and turnout.
“I did realize there is quite a lot of people in the community who aren’t aware of the issue,” Peters said. “I had spoken to a least four community members and they really had no idea. I feel that it is especially important to have participated in this project. Not only because I am a young Anishinaabe woman myself. I am a mother, soon to be of two. I am a daughter, a member of my community but also because you know elections are so close and this had been a critical and national issue for so long and its also been ignored for far to long. I think its important to educate the public.”
Peters said it is important to educate yourself about the issue:
– Native Women’s Association of Canada
– Amnesty International Canada
Peters said she believes the issue of government and police accountability of the cases of these women needs to be addressed.
“They have given proven statistics of how many are actually missing and murdered but that could be a much higher and a greater number because there was no accountability made by the government and the police and reporting and filing of these women,” she said.
Peters added ending the violence against aboriginal girls must be a priority for all Canadians, not only in a an election year, but just in general.
“Whether you are aboriginal or not, if you’re Canadian, if you are a part of today, you need to care,” she said. “I just think all Canadians need to care about this issue because it’s heart breaking. If you are a mom, if you are a brother and you have a sister, you’ve got daughters, just to think of how many women we have lost due to this violence against them.”
Peters said she plans on holding another vigil next Oct.
“One thing somebody had said was, hopefully we won’t have to do this again next year. Hopefully after elections are made that we will have the inquiry to the missing and murdered indigenous women and that we will have more done and we won’t have to do this is what I’ve heard. Regardless of, yes that’s great if we do get an inquiry after the elections are made, that progress is made in this critical issue, I just believe that October 4th, whether or not we get an inquiry, it’s still a the national day of remembrance for these missing and murdered indigenous women,” Peters said.
“It’s almost like, Remembrance Day. October 4th, this is the day that we take aside of our own lives to remember our stolen sisters. Those women and those young girls that were taken from us, they need to be remembered just as our veterans need to be remembered. Just as any other days that are set out for any other persons. These women are valued and they are loved and they matter.”
Overall, Peters said the symbolism behind the red dresses is very powerful.
“I believe it is a great project,” she said. “The significance of the red dresses, that it gives the public to think about. The lives of the women who were once there but are no longer there. It’s kind of a thought provoking way to show the public that these women are gone and they have been taken from us.”
Here are some submitted photos from the event:
– Submitted photos
