Hundreds of people gathered Sunday for the fourth annual Red Ribbon Day, to honour Missing, Murdered, and Exploited Indigenous Peoples (MMEIP), their families and survivors.
A National Day of Awareness, the event is also known as Red Dress or Red Shirt Day. Sunday’s event was held near the Memorial Drive Field of Crosses in Calgary.
Deborah Green-Gopher, MC for Sunday’s event and MMEIP advocate said that red is very symbolic for MMEIP, because red is the colour that spirits see.
The many red ribbons, dresses, and shirts affixed to trees along Memorial Drive have the names of loved ones, each “carrying the spirit” of that loved one.
“It’s not a march or a rally, it’s a healing gathering for families and survivors, and for non-Indigenous education and awareness,” said Green-Gopher.
The day holds high significance for Green-Gopher and her family, as her sister is on the list of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
“We are still being murdered, being exploited, facing violence at alarming rates compared to non-Indigenous people in Canada,” she said.
“Anybody that has a significant loss in their family, you have to go through a grieving period,” she said. “For my family, justice has never been found; however, we did have a healing ceremony on Tsuut’ina Nation.”
