Mr. Chair, I want to first say that I will be sharing my time with the member for Edmonton Griesbach.
This is the second consecutive year in which we have dedicated a take-note debate to the ongoing national crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people. The timing of this debate coincides with the annual national day of awareness, which is this Friday, May 5, commonly known as Red Dress Day.
I would like to share with this House the story of how a red dress became such a potent and meaningful symbol. The individual I want to highlight is an artist with deep roots in my hometown of Winnipeg who shares a proud Métis heritage, Jaime Black. Jaime learned about the tragedy of the missing and murdered from Jo-Ann Episkenew, a Métis writer from Manitoba. She was also inspired in part by the image of a red dress on the cover of The Book of Jessica by Linda Griffiths and Maria Campbell. From this knowledge and inspiration, Jaime proposed an idea to the University of Winnipeg's Institute for Women's and Gender Studies, an installation of red dresses. Through her work, Jaime was also told by an indigenous friend that red is the only colour spirits can see.
On Red Dress Day, thousands of families, indigenous and non- indigenous, will feel closer to the memory and spirit of someone they have lost to this violence. This is more than just a day to hang up a red dress to remind us of those who have been murdered or are still missing. It is a day that calls for action to address the appalling circumstances that have allowed, and continue to allow, so many indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people to be murdered or disappear.
The first exhibition of Jaime Black's installation was at the University of Manitoba in 2011. Later that year, it was installed in the Manitoba legislature. In 2014, it became part of the permanent installation at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Much has changed since 2011, when a young Winnipeg artist conceived the idea of displaying a red dress to draw public attention to the plight of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, a cause that has expanded to include 2SLGBTQI+ people. We know the work is very far from being done. Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people are still very much in danger. Each and every year, there are more names added to the list of the murdered and missing. I am acutely aware of this. In my hometown of Winnipeg, where I come from, the remains of murdered indigenous women have been found in landfills a shocking number of times. It has to stop.
I am thinking of the ongoing trauma, the scars that still linger today. Every story, every disappearance, every violent end re-traumatizes our community, our friends, our neighbours. This has to stop. As a Manitoban, Métis, father and grandfather of indigenous women and girls, I am deeply concerned. It is clear that we have a lot more work to do.
As members of the House, all of us are privileged to be able to rise today and add our voices to the chorus demanding that action be taken.
I acknowledge those who have worked tirelessly to advance awareness of this ongoing Canadian tragedy, including one Winnipeg artist who turned a red dress into a widely recognized symbol of the urgent need to make the world safer for indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.