Carlton teens share connections to keep Red Dress Day in memory

“She went out to use a pay phone and was never seen again, and the payphone was left dangling. Her purse was left behind, and my family is still looking for answers,” Emmy said.

Ernestine was one of 11 siblings in the Mackenzie family and eight of them (including her) have died without family members knowing what happened.

“They passed away without knowing where she went and the three remaining siblings are still wondering as well as the rest of the family,” Emmy explained.

This year, Emmy and another student, Isabella Peters, spearheaded the school’s Red Dress Day project.

Emmy painted a red dress with handprints and the names of as many missing Indigenous Women and Girls as she could fit, knowing she could not fit them all, on a canvas.

The canvas along with other markers, books and a red dress is on display in the school library to help viewers understand the human toll when people go missing.

When a teacher asked Isabella to participate because of her connected background, Isabella jumped at the chance.

“I gladly said yes, as you know, this is something that’s a part of my culture, and something that I definitely want to touch on, especially in such a big school. I think that is something that’s very important to have coverage on,” said Isabella.

Isabella’s art focused on a friend of her mother’s who also disappeared, leaving another family to wonder what became of their loved one.

Emmy said when she began thinking of the impacts, it struck home how many people are affected and when all of the victims are added up, the collective result is massive.

Cause you could just say like ‘oh, there’s a lot of people that are affected’ but like you don’t really see how many people are actually affected by this,” she said.

“If you pick any name from the canvas piece, not only is that person affected, but people that they knew are also affected. It’s so much just from one small name.”

In Canada, Indigenous women make up 16 per cent of all homicide victims and 11 per cent of missing women, despite being 4.3 per cent of the population.

Connecting a red dress to the concept of MMIWG was an artistic project by Canadian Métis artist Jaime Black, beginning in 2010.

Red dresses are often hung in trees or other environments to draw attention to the issue.

Both students stressed the importance that MMIW is not just an Indigenous issue, it is a Canadian or even North American issue as it has been documented south of border as well.

“You look at these people and their situations and who’s been affected by it, and you think, wow, this can very well happen to anybody and just because it’s somebody that I might not know, doesn’t make it any less important,” said Isabella.

When she looked at the project, she had an emotional response to the names she did not know.

“I think that’s just observing, like I said, just looking at the pieces, the poems, the canvas even, like with the names, I love that. Like that, I think alone just pushes a message of keep your people close and that can really help anybody.”

Red Dress Day is Tuesday, May 5 with events across Canada.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Carlton teens share connections to keep Red Dress Day in memory

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