Red Dress Day

5 May 2025

Since 2010, Red Dress Day has been celebrated across Canada. Inspired by Métis artist Jaime Black’s REDress project, the day pays tribute to victims of gender-based violence in Canada. It also raises awareness of the situation of missing and murdered Aboriginal women, girls and two-spirited people.

Depending on the community, commemorations take various forms: marches, processions, wakes, while participants wear red and hang red robes from trees, statues and doors.

Year after year, this day is increasingly recognized across the country. This year, the Canada School of Public Service is organizing a panel of guests from the Aboriginal community to share their experiences and varied perspectives on the situations of violence encountered by Aboriginal women, girls and 2ELGBTQIA+ people. Among the panelists is the President of Quebec Native Women, Marjolaine Étienne.

Resources

We invite you to wear red on May 5, take part in our activities and learn more about the subject. Don’t hesitate to use the following services available to people in distress:

Hope for Wellness Help Line (Indigenous centred): 1-855-242-3310
Crisis Services Canada: (Canada-wide) 9-8-8
National Family and Survivors Circle: 1-844-413-6649

REDress project premieres in Winnipeg

Métis designer Jaime Black conceives her REDress project as an art installation in which she collects and hangs hundreds of empty red dresses. The idea is to represent the missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. This is how she evokes her work. “Through the REDress project, the spirits of missing and murdered women and girls stand here with us today, giving us courage, strength and clarity and guiding us on the path to REclaiming our sovereignty as Aboriginal women.”

The first public presentation of the REDress project is held at the University of Winnipeg. Hundreds of red dresses were sent in by the Canadian public. Since then, the project has become a permanent exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. It has since become a permanent exhibition at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and is the subject of travelling exhibitions in many public places across the country.