Mother pays tribute to daughter on Red Dress Day gathering in Calgary

A Calgary mother honours her daughter through dance on Red Dress Day and shares a powerful call for change.

Tuesday in Calgary, families, survivors and volunteers gathered to honour loved ones lost to violence on the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people, also known as Red Dress Day.

For Vanessa Badger Hunter, this gathering is deeply personal. She dances for her daughter, Willow.

“Today is very significant for me, because this is about the time my daughter passed away. She was missing for five months, and then found on May 1, but we didn’t get told till today, May 5. This was 2021,” she told CityNews.

At the Veterans Memorial Site along Memorial Drive, transformed into a Field of Red Ribbons, red dresses and ribbons move in the wind, powerful symbols of lives taken too soon and the ongoing call for justice.

The National Day of Awareness for MMIWG2S+, or Red Dress Day in Canada, is a national day to recognize lives lost, stand with families, and call for action. The red dress is used as a symbol of lives lost but not forgotten. It was created by Métis artist Jaime Black.

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) says Indigenous women are four times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of violence. Indigenous women make up 16 per cent of all female homicide victims, and 11 per cent of missing women. Indigenous people make up only 4.3 per cent of the population of Canada.

“You look around, and you look at all of these dresses here, it’s … someone’s life that was taken, and we come together as a community to put on something like this so that everybody stands in solidarity,” said Deidra Bungay, organizer for MMIP events in Calgary.

Earlier Tuesday morning, a separate Red Dress Day event began with a sacred fire lighting, opening prayers and songs, followed by a 5.2-kilometre Walk in Solidarity from The Confluence to the Peace Bridge.

On Parliament Hill, a vigil was led by Bridget Tolley, founder of Families of Sisters in Spirit. Tolley has spent 25 years advocating in solidarity with other families who lost loved ones to anti-Indigenous violence and systemic discrimination.

Additionally, the Aboriginal Friendship Centre is marking Red Dress Day with its third annual Red Dress Traditional Powwow gathering on Friday night.

Badger Hunter says gatherings like these help families carry grief together.

“It’s been very up and down for me as a mother. And you know to know that … the system failed her, and I guess I did in a way too, but at the same time, that’s why we do healing, that’s why we come to these gatherings,” she said.

She adds that the system can do better by believing in parents and not stereotyping people due to cast, creed or colour.

The AFN and the Native Women’s Association of Canada continue to advocate for the full implementation of the 231 calls for justice, and the National Action Plan to end violence against indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. The latter notes that only two of these calls have been fully implemented.

“Since the release of the seminal report from the MMIWG National Inquiry, we have yet to see real, on-the-ground changes to end violence against First Nations women, girls, and gender-diverse people,” the AFN said.

“AFN’s MMIWG Sector advocates for the full implementation both of the Inquiry’s 231 Calls for Justice, and the National Action Plan to End Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People.”

For Badger Hunter, dancing is both mourning and resistance, keeping Willow’s spirit alive while hoping no other family has to gather in grief.