Downtown Edmonton park adorned with red dresses to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women
'We have to look after one another — doesn't matter what race we are,' one attendee says
Two red dresses hang from a tree in a downtown Edmonton park — empty shells moved easily by the wind.
They were two dresses of many displayed in Amiskwacîw Wâskâyhkan Ihtâwin, or Beaver Hills House Park, on Saturday to honour Indigenous people affected by violence.
The show of garments was for Red Dress Day, an annual event that commemorates missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Over the past 30 years, there have been more than 1,000 cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women. A CBC News database has more than 300 unsolved cases of women and girls who haven't been found.
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Rhonda Spence attended Saturday's event to honour the families of people who have been killed and those who are missing — some for years.
"It's a real shame that in Canada, in this day and age, that Indigenous people are a marginalized population and that our cries for help continue to fall on deaf ears," Spence said, adding that she feels the police and child welfare systems often fail to protect Indigenous communities.
"We deserve just as much attention as anybody else from any other culture."
People from a variety of backgrounds showed up at Saturday's gathering, Spence said, listening to the words of advocates and family members of victims.
Reconciliation is not broken promises. Reconciliation is coming together and being strong and stopping all the violence that's happening today.- Rhonda Spence
She said it's crucial that the community comes together to voice their anger, particularly because she feels promises made to Indigenous people by Canada's Liberal government haven't been kept.
"We talk about reconciliation, but we are still fighting the same issues. And as a nation, we are not feeling that [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] has kept his word to the people," she said.
"Reconciliation is not broken promises. Reconciliation is coming together and being strong and stopping all the violence that's happening today."
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Adam McDonald wants that violence to come to an end. He's walking from Prince Rupert, B.C., to St. John's, N.L., to honour Indigenous communities.
He said he hopes to find some of the people who have gone missing on the way.
"We have to look after one another — doesn't matter what race we are," McDonald said. "We're all one family from the creator above."
