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Red Dress Day: In Spirit, We Remember

News / May 5th, 2026

Every year on May 5, red dresses appear across landscapes and communities. We see them move gently in the wind, hanging from front porches, trees, fences, and windows, or pinned on shirts and jackets. These red dresses speak without words. For some, they are a familiar symbol, but for others, they remain quietly misunderstood.

Red Dress Day is not a trend or a fleeting movement, but an ongoing act of remembrance and responsibility. It exists because too many Indigenous women, girls, and Two‑Spirit people go missing or are taken by violence.

Their absence cannot be allowed to fade into silence.

Why Red Dress Day matters

Red Dress Day honours the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two‑Spirit People (MMIWG2S+). It also holds space for the families and communities who continue to live with immense loss, grief, and unanswered questions – often while navigating systems that fail to protect or support them – and who are expected to carry that pain as proof of resilience in the face of harm that should never have occurred.

The National Inquiry into MMIWG2S+ concluded that the disproportionate violence faced by Indigenous women, girls, and Two‑Spirit people is rooted in systemic racism, colonial policies, and institutional failure. This violence was identified as a form of race and gender‑based genocide, as Indigenous women are twelve times more likely to be murdered or go missing than non‑Indigenous women in Canada.

Although statistics alone cannot carry the weight of this loss, stories can. The red dress has become one way those stories are carried forward, asking us to pause, to listen, and in spirit, to remember.

The meaning behind the red dress

Many Canadians recognize the red dress as a symbol of this crisis, but fewer understand why the colour red is chosen. Red signifies more than grief. It is about visibility.

In some Indigenous cultures, red is believed to be one of the colours spirits can see. The red dress speaks to spirit and presence, and to a refusal to forget those Indigenous lives that were forcibly taken. Wearing or displaying red makes their absence visible. It acknowledges those who are missing and calling the spirit of their loved ones home. An empty dress speaks of what has been taken but also what endures: memory, love, and connection.

A story told through movement and light

This year, we created a new 30‑second animated video to mark Red Dress Day, titled In Spirit, We Remember.

The video does not use spoken narration. Instead, it tells a story through subtle movement and quiet symbolic imagery. Wind moves through hair, light rises into the sky, a red dress floats then dissolves into stars.

The silence in our video is intentional. Silence in the face of this crisis is not.

Without spoken narration, the story unfolds through gentle subtitles, allowing the absence of voice to hold meaning…presence without sound, memory without form. Life continues in spirit, on the land, and through those who remember.

By removing a voice-over, the video creates space for reflection rather than instruction. The viewer is invited to witness, not to be told what to think. The words appear slowly, softly, like a shared breath between the relative who is lost and the one who remains.

Big sister…
I feel you here.
You rise in songs.
Red is a colour spirits can see.

This creative approach is deliberate. Some stories are not meant to be explained. They are meant to be felt. The video does not seek to define memory, but to make room for it.

But remembrance alone is not enough.

From remembrance to responsibility

Remembrance matters, but responsibility begins when we choose to learn, speak, and show up today. The violence experienced by Indigenous women, girls, and Two‑Spirit people is not inevitable. It is the result of systems and decisions that continue today. While governments hold specific obligations, responsibility does not stop there. It belongs to all of us who live within, and benefit from, these systems.

Red Dress Day is more than a moment of reflection. It responds to an ongoing crisis identified by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which issued 231 Calls for Justice. These are not recommendations. They are legal and moral responsibilities for governments, institutions, and everywhere in Canada. They exist because remembrance alone has not been enough.

Taking responsibility means understanding the Calls for Justice, which move us beyond awareness toward accountability and lasting change. They set clear expectations for safety, dignity, and justice across policing, health care, education, housing, media, and child welfare. They also make it clear that silence and inaction allow harm to continue.

Indigenous women, families, and Two-Spirit people have long led the work of advocacy, healing, and protection. Shared responsibility means expecting better from institutions and supporting Indigenous-led organizations and community-based initiatives.

Refusing silence means recognizing that this crisis is ongoing and not confined to Indigenous communities alone.

A commitment to act with care

Red Dress Day asks more of us than wearing red. It calls us to act with care in how we learn, in how we expect accountability, and in supporting Indigenous-led solutions with care. Not as performance, but as a genuine and ongoing commitment.

The red dress makes absence visible. The Calls for Justice make the responsibility to care for one another – for truth, and for action – impossible to ignore.

In reflection

Red Dress Day reminds us that remembrance is not only about honouring those who are missing or were taken. It is about what we choose to do with that knowledge now. To carry remembrance forward, to listen, to speak when silence causes harm, and to expect better from the systems around us.

The red dress continues to move in the wind and their memory remains with us.

What we do next determines whether justice becomes possible.

Support and resources

Red Dress Day, and the realities it represents, can bring up difficult emotions to handle. For some, this reflection may connect to personal loss, grief, or trauma. If you or someone you know needs support, help is available.

The National MMIWG2S+ Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at: 1-844-413-6649.

For those seeking to learn more or engage responsibly with the broader context of this crisis, the following resources provide important information and perspectives:

Continuing the word beyond Red Dress Day

Remembrance doesn’t end on May 5. For many communities, it becomes a reason to gather, to speak, and to push for meaningful change.

On Thursday, May 7, 2026, the Giganawenimaanaanig MMIWG2S+ Implementation Committee at the University of Manitoba invite community members to attend an event in honour of the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQIA+ People, also known as Red Dress Day.

This year’s event will feature Sandra Delaronde, speaking on “Creating Systemic Change through the Red Dress Alert.” This lecture will take place from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in Rooms 543-544, University Centre, at the University of Manitoba, Fort Garry Campus. This is a free event, and no registration is required.

This gathering offers an opportunity to continue reflection while engaging directly with advocacy efforts led by Indigenous women and community leaders. Conversations such as these move remembrance beyond symbolism toward accountability, systems change, and collective responsibility.

To learn more about this event, please visit: https://chrr.info/event/an-event-in-honour-of-red-dress-day-2026/

#umanitoba #RedDressDay #MMIWG2S

Special thanks to Teena Legris for her writing, storytelling, and collaboration on this project.