FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION – In honour of the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, otherwise known as Red Dress Day, a walk was held in Fort William First Nation.
A few dozen community members participated in the walk and participants were encouraged to wear red clothing and given pins featuring the symbolic red dress.
“The red dress is the jingle dress. It was made [by] an elderly gentleman whose daughter was very sick,” said community Elder, Myria Esquega.
“He had this dream, and it was the red dress with the jingles on it that he had dreamt of. So, when he woke up that next morning, he had to go get the material and make this red dress for his daughter that was very sick. And once it was made, he was able to put it on her and able to stand her up and let the jingles move. When she moved, he helped her, and this is what healed her.”
Walkers made their way from the community’s youth centre, up Mission Road to the community Centre and back down Anemki Drive. Many community members and visitors stopped to take the time to acknowledge the walkers.
“We always have a lot of traffic from the arena, but we happen to have traffic today from the Goodwill Hockey Tournament that is happening in the community,” said Chief Michele Solomon.
“Of course, a lot of the people that would be attending the Goodwill tournament are First Nation and Indigenous, so it was nice that we could have them acknowledge the walk that was happening.”
In addition to the first nation, the day was also acknowledged throughout the city by various organizations including Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School which had displayed red dresses along its property this week to raise awareness.
“I think that it's a really symbolic way to raise the issue without words, without voice. It's really giving voice in a way that is symbolic. Those red dresses represent the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,” said Solomon.
“It really raises the issue to the public that this is a significant issue. It's a tragic issue for Indigenous people and our communities. I drove by Dennis Franklin Community High School and noticed the red dresses and I just thought it was so beautiful to see that it was being acknowledged in such a public way.”
