Winnipeg MP pushes ‘Red Dress’ alert system for missing, murdered Indigenous women
A Manitoba MP is trying to create an alert system to notify the public when Indigenous women go missing — an endeavour she hopes will lead to fewer deaths and more safe reunions with loved ones.
“This is a critical initiative,” New Democrat MP Leah Gazan, who represents the riding of Winnipeg Centre, said last month as a House of Commons committee began studying her “Red Dress Alert” proposal.
“This is an initiative that will save lives.”
Gazan’s fellow MPs unanimously backed her motion last year declaring the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a Canadawide emergency. The motion also called for funding for a new alert system similar to those that exist for missing children and seniors.
Now, MPs are discussing with experts and stakeholders about how to implement such a system across the country.
A 2019 report from a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls found deliberate rights violations at the heart of violence against Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people.
With the final report came 231 calls to justice directed toward governments, social service providers, industry and Canadians, but relatively little progress has been made to date — particularly on the federal side.
Between 2009 and 2021, the homicide rate among Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than for their non-Indigenous counterparts, Statistics Canada concluded in a report released last year.
That report also found that homicides involving Indigenous women and girls are less likely to result in the most serious murder charges than cases in which victims were non-Indigenous.
Sheila North, former grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and an ex-journalist, said she frequently encountered examples of police inaction when reporting on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
“There was always a dismissal, or even disrespect and disregard, toward the families and friends that we’re trying to get awareness out and get some movement on an investigation done,” North said in an interview.
“There was always this common theme of an officer saying, ‘Just wait a while, they’re probably on a drunk bender, probably partying,”’ she recounted.
“Or, ‘They have a right to leave, they can go on vacation,’ knowing full well that a lot of these families can’t afford to go on a vacation.”
Gazan’s Red Dress Alert proposal is being examined by the House of Commons Status of Women committee, which has already heard testimony from a number of experts calling for the initiative to be Indigenous-led.
Such a model, they say, would mitigate the problem of police inaction, as well as bureaucratic red tape, to better ensure members of the public are notified of a disappearance promptly and efficiently.