May 5 marks Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day for Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People, which will be recognized in the qathet region.
According to organizer Cyndi Pallen, in partnership with Tla’amin Nation, qathet SAFE is helping to raise awareness of those who have experienced violence and/or loss though tragic death or have missing family members.
“We ask everyone to be mindful and come together in solidarity to pay homage to families impacted,” said Pallen, prior to this year’s walk.
Those participating in the walk are asked to be at Tis’kwat, the old hospital grounds in Townsite, at 12:45 pm, with the walk to Willingdon Beach starting at 1:15 pm. Individuals can follow by car or meet at Willingdon Beach if they cannot walk the distance.
From 3 to 4:30 pm, there will be a candlelight Kol-Neh’qway’ Coast Salish cultural ceremony.
“We are reaching out to the community to come support us,” said Pallen. “This will be the sixth year we have been hosting the walk.
“As we go along, we are hearing more stories that are closer, and as time goes on people are communicating more about different things. We’re hoping for a good turnout, which we have had in the past. We’ve had several different walks and tried different things and we decided to stick with Townsite to Willingdon Beach.”
Pallen said there is a need to communicate about missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), girls and two-spirited people.
“We are working toward supporting and lifting up affected people,” she added.
To many First Nations, Pallen explained following a previous Red Dress Day walk, red is the only colour spirits can see.
“When we wear red, we are hoping to call back the missing spirits of the women and children so we can lay them to rest,” she said. “There are still a lot of people who are going missing, and for our people, First Nations people across the country and Canada, it’s been really challenging for their spirits.
“I’d like to see it stopped. This is not something that’s normal for us to be doing. We shouldn’t be here, standing up and talking about all of the women who went missing and their families that are suffering.”
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