WFN News

May 5th, 2026 is Red Dress Day. A day to remember and honour Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S).

For some, Red Dress Day is a reminder of continued injustices perpetuated by systemic, gender-based, and racialized violence. For many, these injustices are more than a day or reminder, they’re a continued and lived experience.

• 61% of Indigenous women experience intimate partner violence.
• 60% of Indigenous women experience psychological abuse.
• Indigenous women, girls, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered in comparison to non-Indigenous women in Canada.
• Between 2009 and 2021, Police were less likely to lay or recommend a charge of first-degree murder—the most serious type of homicide charge—when the victim was Indigenous (27%) compared to when she was not (54%).

231 Calls for Justice were brought forward by the National Inquiry and issued in its Final Report on June 3, 2019. Every Call represents a series of injustices and system inequity that perpetuates harm against Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People.

These Calls are built on the truths and lived experiences of Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People; women like Westbank First Nation Member Jordan Ned. In 2024 Jordan experienced intimate partner violence in her own home:

“I survived and am not part of the statistic, but I got lucky, and a lot of other Indigenous women have not. Please understand that today marks a very important day, but as Indigenous women, we face the stereotypes daily. I will not be in silence.”

Despite 231 Calls for Justice being brought forward seven years ago, patterns of injustice persist, demonstrating a clear path of purposeful neglect.

Today and every day, we stand with Jordan and all Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People. Westbank First Nation condemns all forms of systemic, gender-based and racialized violence.

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