Willowbank honours Canada's missing and murdered Indigenous women

Hamilton Spectator

08-05-2025

Residents and visitors gathered at Willowbank on Monday to reflect on stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people (MMIWG2S+).
The School of Restoration Arts hosted a red dress exhibit and unveiled what organizers say is Canada's first MMIWG2S+ teardrop cairn during a two-day event held May 4 and 5.
The retreat was organized in partnership with Kakekalanicks, De dwa da dehs nye Aboriginal Health Centre, Willowbank and the Love Garden, and aimed to provide space for community gathering, remembrance and cultural truth-telling.
The exhibition, titled 'If Only These Dresses Could Tell Their Story,' features 13 red dresses and/or installations contributed by Indigenous peoples from Niagara and western New York.
Curated by Michele-Elise Burnett, the exhibition made its debut at Willowbank and will travel across Canada next year, with its first stop at Black Creek Village in Toronto.
'The vision for these is they will travel across Turtle Island and spread their messages and awareness,' Burnett said.
'Hopefully, whenever we go to a new place, we invite another family to join the collective.'
Fallon Farinacci, a Red River Métis woman, contributed a dress to the exhibition in memory of her father, Maurice Paul, her nine-year-old self, and the thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
'The dress itself is my daughter's first communion dress,' Farinacci told The Lake Report.
Raised in a Roman Catholic community in Manitoba, Farinacci now refers to herself as a 'recovering Catholic.'
'As I grew up, I learned more about the Catholic Church's role in residential schools, colonization, discrimination and racism towards Indigenous people,' she said.
Attached to her dress are the calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, as well as her daughter's first sash. The hem of the dress is stained with dirt mailed from her home community.
'That is the dirt and soil of my ancestors,' she said.
The wheat featured at the bottom of the dress pays tribute to the Prairies, while the red paint symbolizes both the red dresses and the bloodshed caused by violence against Indigenous people.
'The red dress exhibit is called 'If Only These Dresses Could Tell Their Story,' and now they are telling their story. It's a call to action,' Burnett said.
A new teardrop-shaped cairn was also unveiled near the Love Garden at Willowbank. Built by Dean McLellan with the support of Willowbank students, the structure features a crystal on top and contains gifts and offerings inside.
'Our community wanted to create a memorial, and we thought — what better place to do it?' said Marie-Louise Bowering, an Indigenous community consultant and coach who also serves as secretary on Willowbank's board.
'It's going to help this land, it's going to help with the history and the trauma that has happened here throughout the thousands of years that our people have been here,' she said.
The cairn was funded through community donations, while the stone was donated by Perry Hartwick of Upper Canada Stone Company.
Admission to the exhibit was pay-what-you-may, with proceeds supporting the MMIW Cairn Reflection Area and future awareness and healing initiatives.
MMIWG2S+ shirts are available at
kakekalanicks.org
.
[e-mail]