Red Shawl Campaign brings awareness to missing, murdered women

Dozens of red shawls are hanging at a Fredericton exhibit that is trying to draw attention to issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

The red dress movement has been drawing attention to missing and murdered aboriginal women across the country.

But Imelda Perley, the elder-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, said she wanted something more symbolic.

"As a traditional woman we wear our shawls. We teach young girls how to earn the right to wearing a shawl," said Perley.

"To protect the body, mind and spirit."

The red shawls are hanging in UNB's Alumni Memorial Building to represent missing and murdered women throughout the country.

"[The shawl] is the image of healing that is needed for those families that have missing and murdered women," she said.

They're different sizes representing children, adults and grandmothers.

"We hung them up on branches as opposed to hangers because branches are a symbol of the strength of a tree," she said.

"The tree is a reminder that we have to be rooted to our own cultures ... to always be strong enough to stand against the storms that come."

The exhibit is part of an entire month of awareness called the Red Shawl Campaign hosted by the Mi'kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre.

The documentary Highway Of Tears will be screened in the exhibit on Thursday evening. The film describes a series of murders off a 720-kilometre stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, B.C. 

"It's not just the west that has murdered and missing women," said Perley.

Churches will also be ringing their bells across Fredericton every Wednesday afternoon and evening for 10 minutes during the month of October.

"How are we going to recognize over 1,200 women that are missing and murdered … when the bells are ringing that people can take a moment of silence to pray for a woman," she said.