GUELPH – Red dresses will hang from the trees at Royal City Park on Oct. 4, recognizing the lost lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit (MMIWG2S+) people.
Métis artist Jamie Black launched an art installation in 2010, hanging “hundreds of empty red dresses in public spaces to remind people of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit women and girls lost because of gender-based violence,” according to the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC).
“Indigenous girls make up seven per cent of the total population of girls in Canada, yet they represented 50% of all female homicide victims in Canada between 2001 and 2017,” NWAC officials state.
“Indigenous women are sexually assaulted three times more often than non-Indigenous women, and most of the women and children trafficked in Canada are Indigenous.”
Black chose the colour red for the dresses because some Indigenous people believe red is the only colour that spirits can see.
She called the installation the REDress Project, as a call to action to redress: to remedy or set right.
Since, red dresses have become a common symbol representing MMIWG2S.
And this symbolism will be displayed in an art installation encouraging reflection, remembrance and healing on Oct. 4.
The Sisters in Spirit event is organized by Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis, Southwest Aboriginal Health Access Centre (SOAHAC) and Guelph Community Health Centre (CHC).
Officials invite people to wander through the installation throughout the day, or gather at 6:30pm “for speakers, music and a meditative walk to support the families, loved ones and communities impacted by the MMIWG2S+ crisis.
“Recent research by the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics shows that … 56% of Indigenous women [have] experienced physical assault and 46% [have] experienced sexual assault,” GWWIC officials stated. “Two-Spirit people are at even greater risk of violence.”
According to the Métis Nation of Ontario, the term two-spirit can have a number of meanings, and is often used as an umbrella term by Indigenous people who are LGBTQIA+.
Two-Spirit also refers to specific cultural and community roles that Two-Spirit people play as they embody both male and female energies. Most Indigenous languages have specific terms for people who fall under the Two-Spirit umbrella.
GWWIC’s Sisters in Spirit event will “offer space for reflection on the impacts of this violence, as well as for remembrance and healing,” GWWIC officials state.
