Missing and murdered women – Last year, I wrote about how Red Dress Day hit me in the gut. I shared how, as a white woman who grew up here in Golden, I’ve had the honour of Indigenous women being part of my life — as friends, mentors, colleagues, chosen family. And how the idea of them simply disappearing left me shaken. A year later, that feeling hasn’t gone away. If anything, it’s grown.
Because the truth is, we are still losing them.
They are still going missing.
They are still being murdered.
And we are still not doing enough.
On May 5 — Red Dress Day — we once again hang crimson garments in public places. Dresses with no one in them. No arms to hug their children. No hands to hold. No feet to carry them home. It’s a haunting image, and that’s the point. We need to be haunted.
This year, I stood once more, watching and listening to the ceremony hosted by the Columbia River Métis Nation. It was a sombre, beautiful, difficult thing. And I found myself thinking again about the people I love — the Indigenous women who have helped shape my life — and how, in another family, another town, someone just like me is standing in a ceremony like this, holding a photo instead of a hand.
It’s easy to treat this as someone else’s issue. But that’s not good enough anymore. Not when these women are our neighbours, classmates, coworkers, teachers, mothers, and daughters. Not when the red dresses could just as easily belong to someone we know. Someone we love.
One of the most powerful things I heard this year was from a speaker who said, “This isn’t a moment — it’s a movement.” And I believe that. But movements need momentum. And momentum requires that we not look away.
So here I am again, not looking away.
I’m holding that image of the empty red dress in my mind again, still, not because I like the colour, but because I believe in what it stands for. I’m listening. I’m learning. I’m showing up.
Because every time we show up, we send a message: you mattered. You still matter. You will not be forgotten.
If you haven’t attended a Red Dress Day event before, make next year your first. If you did this year, come again next time. Bring someone new. Talk about it afterward. Ask questions. Listen to the answers.
We can’t change the past, but we can absolutely help shape the future.
And if nothing else, remember this: those empty dresses are not just symbols. They are stories. And those stories deserve to be told.
Janet Crandall is an owner/operator at The Golden Star, a former Publisher at The Golden Star (2003 – 2012), and a former Associate Publisher at The Golden News (1998 – 2003). Browse the list below to read more of her writing.
