Council takes Red Dress to heart
Council chiefs and employees of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake posed for a picture wearing red clothing or accessories on Monday to mark Red Dress. Courtesy Mohawk Council of Kahnawake
Monday was Red Dress Day, a day for honouring and demanding justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S).
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) organized a social media campaign this year, not only informing community members of the day and its significance, but also encouraging them to wear red to participate in the awareness movement - something it also encouraged internally, MCK community engagement specialist Carly Kateri Diabo said.
As such, Council chiefs and many MCK staff wore red and posed for a group photo to mark the day.
“We encouraged all our staff, key leadership, the chief executive, leadership, everybody was encouraged to wear red,” said Diabo.
Whether it be a full red outfit, or just some red accessories, what was important was the intention.
“It’s a symbol of our solidarity and remembering,” said Diabo.
She said the multi-day social media campaign was developed with Council chief Melanie Morrison. Morrison’s sister Tiffany went missing on June 18, 2006, and her remains were found on May 31, 2010.
“Melanie is living and breathing this reality,” said Diabo.
The campaign focused on the origins of the day, the REDress project, created in 2010 by Metis and Finnish artist Jaime Black.
“MCK acknowledges her powerful work in bringing visibility to our stolen sisters,” said the MCK’s social media post.
It also provided statistics that showed the crisis of MMIWG2S is not just a matter of historical events but is still ongoing today.
For example, Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people are still 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than non-Indigenous women in Canada, according to a report from the ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs published in June 2024.
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“That was the goal of that. We worked with Melanie, a couple of weeks prior, to come up with a plan that really was her vision and her goals,” said Diabo.
“Wearing a red shirt is good symbolism, but she really wanted to put out stats and information about it, and that’s what we tried to do working alongside Melanie.”
