Canadian high school students look to raise awareness about injustice to Indigenous women and girls

Commuters in Coquitlam, B.C. will be greeted by the ghostly sight of 40 red dresses hanging from trees this week. 

These dresses collected by students at Dr. Charles Best secondary school have a more somber purpose — to raise awareness about injustices to Indigenous women and girls. 

Red Dress Day is an annual event that takes place on May 5 and began seven years ago as a commemorative art installation by Métis artist Jamie Black. Since then, universities and colleges across Canada have participated in initiative by hanging red dresses in trees to bring awareness about injustices to Indigenous women.

The dresses — donated by locals groups, collected by students, and in some cases made by the school’s home economics teacher — are a colourful yet touching tribute to lives that have been lost in recent decades in Canada.

The students say they hope the installation, which has been approved by city officials on both sides of Como Lake Avenue, will raise awareness and spur action.

“I hope when people drive by they wonder who is supposed to be inside (these dresses),” said Jamie Livgard, who is of Cree Métis ancestry. “I hope they Google it (the red dresses) and it educates them”

Some of the dresses have cards describing missing teens, turning a school project into a heart-breaking memorial. One card pinned to a simple red dress tells the story of Amanda Cook, 14, who went to a harvest fair in Rossburn, Manitoba. Her lifeless body was found beaten and bruised in the tall grass near the fairgrounds, days later.

“It's the blood that has been spilled for many years,” said Livgard, explaining why the dresses are red.

Students participating in the Red Dress Project have been studying the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) report in their Grade 12 Social Justice class. They believe Canadians can do more, starting with a follow-up on the many recommendations of the national inquiry made nearly two years ago.

“The national inquiry called it a genocide,” said student Ciara Albrecht, “so it’s not just us, random students from Coquitlam who are concerned.”

Their teacher Megan Leslie said the course empowers students to educate others and she has them send letters to politicians urging action. 

Student Ellisa Wright hopes that “something is done to address the long term effects of colonization and trans-generational trauma experienced by Indigenous people,” noting that the deaths of the women and girls are an outcome of this trauma.

“It’s very shocking,” Wright said. “We need to do something to fix that.”

The students have earned the praise of Judge Marion Buller, a former Port Coquitlam judge and the first female First Nations judge in British Columbia. 

Judge Buller headed up the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

In an email to CityNews, Judge Buller said the students are taking a bold stance by helping to promote concrete actions to remove systemic causes of violence and increase the safety of indigenous women and girls in Canada.

“I am very proud of the students and teachers in Social Justice 12 for their courage to support the Red Dress Project,” Buller said.

Some advocates are now calling for the establishment of “Red Dress Alerts,” an early warning system, much like Amber Alerts, but it will be used for when an Indigenous woman or girl goes missing.