The National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples is also known as Red Dress Day. This name comes from a powerful art project that raises awareness about the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples that represents an epidemic of gender-based violence in Canada.

In 2010, Métis artist Jamie Black began The REDress Project. It began as an art installation that hung 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. Jamie
Black’s project gained national and international attention and inspired a movement for change.

The word “redress” means to remedy or set right. The REDress project is a call to action. This call to action and the epidemic of gender-based violence targeted at Indigenous women, girls, and 2LGBTQQIA+ peoples that inspired the REDress project is at the heart of the work the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) has done since 1974. This is why NWAC is a vocal supporter of the REDress Project and has also worked tirelessly to advocate for days of commemoration like Red Dress Day. We cannot forget our lost grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunties, and the 2SLGBTQQIA+ members of our communities. We must work together to redress this violence.