Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Silvia Senna

'We have to save ourselves'

Tk’emlúps holds sombre ceremony in honour of Red Dress Day

May 6, 2024 | 2:53 PM

KAMLOOPS — May 5th is the annual day to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Red dresses represent the lives lost to gender-based violence in the Indigenous community. On Sunday, Tk’emlúps hosted an event to raise awareness about this important issue.

“Initially it started off to ask for the inquiry to figure out why is this happening and how can we stop it. […] Now we have the calls to justice. There is a framework. There are actions that need to take place,” explained Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc councillor Nikki Fraser. “That’s why this day is important, is to shine light on what still needs to happen and to get people to commit to that.”

Steps have been made since the movement started back in 2010. However, the battle is far from being over.

“We are at war. We are in a fight. We did not ask to be here. It’s a big fight. The truth of the matter is we cannot — and it has been proven time and time again until this very day — we can not rely on anyone else, the RCMP, the government, to help her protect her people,” said advocate Michelle Ikwumonu. “No one is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves.”

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Moving forward, the goal is simple.

“Make sure that our women and girls, Indigenous women and girls, two-spirit, gender diverse folks here in Canada feel safe, feel valued, that their lives matter here in this country. And historically, that has not been the case.” said Fraser.

For that to happen, Indigenous communities and their allies should all come together.

“We all have a role to help end this epidemic, and it’s our responsibility to find out what that role is,” Fraser explained. “There’s so many moving pieces that need to start contributing, and I hope that’s what I want to get out today, is let’s start making some of those things a reality.”