Red Dress Day walk brings stories, solidarity to Regina streets
Monday's rain didn't stop dozens of community members from walking in Regina's second annual Red Dress Day event at the mâmawêyatitân centre.
The event was part of a national day of awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people (MMIWG2S).
After the rainy walk, students and community members gathered at Scott Collegiate to hear stories honouring the lives of missing Indigenous women.
For Gwenda Yuzicappi, sharing her daughter's story is a way to keep her memory alive.
"If I can let one more person know what happened to her, that's my purpose," said Yuzicappi, whose daughter Amber Redman went missing in 2005.
Yuzicappi said she felt her daughter's presence during the walk and wanted to offer comfort to others who have experienced similar loss.
"Coming here for Red Dress Day, with so many inner-city children, youth, adults, being able to share her story gave me a lot of honour and respect. As First Nations women, we matter. Our lives matter," she said.
Held annually on May 5, Red Dress Day is a national call to end gendered and racialized violence against Indigenous people in Canada.
"It deepens understanding. Empathy grows from that and developing allies for our Indigenous community is so important," said Rhonda Haus, principal at Scott Collegiate.
WATCH | Mother keeps her daughter's memory alive at Red Dress Day walk:
Media Video | Mother keeps her daughter's memory alive at Red Dress Day walk
Caption: Gwenda Yuzicappi's daughter Amber Redman was just 17 when she disappeared in 2005. Twenty years later, the mother shares Amber's story at Saskatchewan's second annual Red Dress Day walk. The event aims to spread awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Canada.
Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages.
This is the second year the school has hosted a Red Dress Day ceremony, creating space for reflection, learning and solidarity.
"It's a powerful opportunity for our students and community to hear first-hand experiences and understand the trauma and stories shared today," Haus said. "I think of Amber Redman's family and the profound impact their story has on everyone who hears it."
Participants brought signs, photographs, and traditional items to honour those lost.
Inside the school, the event featured drumming, ceremony and space for families to share memories. Many attendees wore red or ribbon skirts, and some students painted red handprints on their faces, a symbol of the lives lost and voices still unheard.
"I wear this red face paint to walk in solidarity with families and communities, and to walk for the women and two-spirit people who can't walk with us," said Izzy Sunshine, a student at Scott Collegiate.
As a young person in the community, Sunshine said she hopes more of her peers will engage and remember those who have been lost.
"I just want to send a message to everyone who saw us walking today, and everyone here: I support and stand with families."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Watchdog suggests review of how RCMP interact with Indigenous people, mental health calls
Social Sharing B.C.'s police watchdog is recommending changes to how police interact with Indigenous people and communities, as well as people experiencing a mental health crisis, in the wake of an investigation into RCMP actions during an incident three years ago that left a Williams Lake, B.C., man dead. B.C.'s Independent Investigations Office (IIO) released a report last week detailing the events of July 10, 2022. The report states that just after 3:42 a.m. PT, a family member called police to report that a man was suicidal at their home in Williams Lake. Another family member said the man was intoxicated and had a loaded firearm. According to the report, police, including crisis negotiators, tried to speak with the man several times, but were not successful. Tear gas was used in an attempt to get the man out of the house, items were thrown at windows to break them, and a drone was sent into the home to locate the man. Tactical officers entered the home around noon and found the man dead. An autopsy confirmed he died by suicide. While the investigation found no criminal wrongdoing on the part of police, the IIO said the incident raises questions about the relationship between police and Indigenous peoples. "While the IIO's mandate does not include examining systemic issues in policing, it is important to acknowledge that Indigenous communities in Canada have long faced systemic discrimination by police," the report reads. It said that discrimination becomes clear when you consider disproportionate rates of arrest and incarceration that Indigenous people face. Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) Chief Willie Sellars confirmed the man who died that day in 2022 was a member of the WLFN. "He was a good friend, he was a family man, and we felt that [if the situation had] been handled differently, he would still be here today." While police were cleared of criminal wrongdoing, he said he wants to see police held accountable for their actions. "At the end of the day, you know, the safety of our community is of utmost importance. Having a working relationship with the RCMP is a part of that, and we understand that, too. But that relationship has to result in change in the way they carry about within the territory, and we have to hold them accountable at the same time." Mental health calls The report also said the incident raises questions about how police handle interactions with people experiencing a mental health crisis. Jessica Berglund, the chief civilian director of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., said there have been a number of studies showing that "military-style" responses to individuals in mental health crisis may not be the best option. A 2010 report from the Mental Health Commission of Canada recommended police "use-of-force training" be reviewed by police academies and agencies to ensure plenty of time is made to learn how to resolve situations without the use of force, and that training keys in on symptoms of mental illness, verbal communications, interpersonal skills and de-escalation techniques. "In this case, we don't know if those techniques used by the RCMP did contribute to the man taking his own life, but there's been so much input from Indigenous communities and the mental health profession saying that this is not the right way to try to de-escalate a situation where we are really trying to save that person's life," Berglund said during an interview on CBC's Daybreak Kamloops. The report said family members asked why they weren't involved in negotiations. Crisis negotiators and other officers said friends and family are not typically included in attempts to speak with people in crisis to avoid the possibility of triggering the person. "If you don't know if that person's a trigger, and you don't now what their motives are … and you interject with somebody who quite possibly could be the problem .. that's extremely dangerous," an unnamed crisis negotiator said in the report. Berglund said the police did everything according to their training and policy in this case. But she said she's forwarding recommendations to the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) for the RCMP to see if current protocols really are the best way to handle these situations. The CRCC confirmed it had received the report and is reviewing it. Sellars said he hopes the IIO's report will ultimately bring about change. "There's definitely more work to be done," he said. "Progress is happening, but it's not happening quickly enough. It's stuff like this that sets back that progress."
Edmonton Journal
2 days ago
- Edmonton Journal
Family, friends scour river valley in search of 14-year-old Samuel Bird
An anguished and angry Alanna Bird was joined by family, friends and supporters in a search for her son, Samuel, who has been missing since June 1. Article content A search team was out in the rain in the river valley near Victoria Park Saturday, looking for any trace of the 14-year-old. The family, Indigenous leaders and politicians expressed frustration with the Edmonton Police Service's response to the missing persons report filed by the Bird family. Article content Article content Article content 'I won't even be able to kiss him now,' said Alanna, who was joined by Samuel's father, Justin Bird, and the boy's paternal grandmother, Geri Potts. 'I don't know how I'm going to find him. Is he going to be in pieces?' Article content Article content The teen was supposed to return to his West Edmonton home on June 1. The family said he was struggling with mental-health issues and was lovesick, and had fallen in with a group of friends they didn't trust. They said friends who used to call on Samuel regularly stopped coming by or sending messages after the teen's disappearance. The family has stated that social-media videos are circulating which look to show Samuel being beaten. Article content 'The reason we're doing this search is that we waited a very long time for information to come, to verify that Sam is either here with us or gone to the spirit world,' said Potts. Article content Article content 'We were directed to start looking in the water,' said Potts. 'Today is a mixed blessing. As we're sitting here, it's raining outside. It's cleansing the ground and preparing us for this search. It could be a long journey before we find him. It could take us a long time, but we're not giving up.' Article content Article content Potts said she's been out and about regularly, looking for Samuel or his friends, from the West Edmonton Mall to the river valley. Article content Alanna remains frustrated with the police. Article content 'It was two days after he didn't come home, he wasn't messaging, so I called the police,' she said. 'They ended up having someone dispatched and coming by.' Article content She said she was told by police that Samuel was likely 'hanging with friends' and would be home sooner or later. Article content 'But the thing was, I would see every day,' said Alanna. 'He always let me know where he was. I don't know how much more I can express that. He knew I always worried about him. I didn't like him to touch alcohol… And I felt something was wrong the first couple of days.'
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
As one Manitoba landfill search for First Nations women's remains ends, another is set to begin
Social Sharing Donna Bartlett's family is still coming to terms with the end of a months-long search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for her granddaughter, after it wrapped up last week with only some of Marcedes Myran's remains located. "It was, I guess, hurtful," Bartlett said, adding searchers were able to find only about 15 per cent of her granddaughter's total remains since the process began in December. "I would have liked them to continue searching, but [it was] because they haven't found anything I think in about a month that they said … they were done." Myran was one of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in Winnipeg in 2022. Skibicki was convicted of first-degree murder last year in her death and the deaths of Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois and Ashlee Shingoose. Both Myran, 26, and Harris, 39, were originally from Long Plain First Nation in south-central Manitoba, while Shingoose, 30, was from St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation in northeastern Manitoba. Contois, 24, was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River, on the western shore of Lake Manitoba. While some remains belonging to Harris and Myran were found at the Winnipeg-area Prairie Green landfill earlier this year, Contois's partial remains were found in May 2022 in a garbage bin near Skibicki's apartment in Winnipeg's North Kildonan area, and more were found the following month at the Brady Road landfill. That Winnipeg landfill is also where Shingoose's remains are now believed to be. Bartlett said she feels torn as the search for her granddaughter's remains ends, but she knows it means those resources will move to soon start searching for Shingoose. "I still appreciate them finding some of her. They actually did it," Bartlett said in an interview Friday. "It's kind of heartbreaking, and at the same time, it's kind of good that they're going to search for the other woman." Albert Shingoose said he's trying to stay strong as the process gets underway to start searching for his daughter, who was identified as the previously-unknown victim in the case earlier this year. But he's hoping to push the province to also search the Brady landfill for the remains of Tanya Nepinak, whose remains were believed to have been taken to that site after she went missing at age 31 over a decade ago. A search for Nepinak's remains was launched in October 2012, but it was cancelled after six days with no evidence located. "I know how it feels to lose a daughter," Shingoose said in an interview in Winnipeg, where he and his family are staying after wildfires forced them out of their homes in St. Theresa Point. "For so many years that they're not looking for her, and the family [has] been asking for help." Melissa Robinson knows how it feels to lose a loved one, too — her cousin, Harris, was the other woman whose remains were recently found in the Prairie Green landfill alongside Myran's. Now, she said she hopes to use her family's experience to help families like the Shingooses. "What they primarily need is just people there. You know, people there to hold them up, right, when they're feeling like they just can't do it anymore," Robinson said. "All we can do now as a community is be there to support them like the community supported us." As Bartlett and Robinson's families prepare to finally lay their loved ones to rest, Shingoose said he hopes the search for his daughter's remains begins soon. The province announced Thursday that the search of the Prairie Green landfill for Harris's and Myran's remains officially ended on July 9, followed by private ceremonies with the families on July 14 and 15 alongside Premier Wab Kinew, members of the search team and other community supporters. The update came months after the women's partial remains were discovered at the landfill in February, though workers remained at the site after that in an effort to find more of their remains, Kinew said previously. With the Prairie Green search concluded, specialized equipment and personnel will soon move to the Brady Road landfill to continue the search for Shingoose's remains, the province said. As one Manitoba landfill search for women's remains ends, another is set to begin 18 minutes ago Searchers are expected to soon start looking for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose in a Winnipeg landfill, after finding remains belonging to Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran in a landfill north of the city earlier this year. They were among four First Nations women murdered by a serial killer in 2022.
