The REDress Project seeks to honour and raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and Girls, and Saskatchewan Polytechnic has a new display as part of this movement.
Unveiling a permanent installation in the main entrance of the building, the Indigenous Strategy Local Advisory Committee hopes to keep the issue in students’ minds and to call for reflection on the many people affected by this issue.
“It's here to bring visibility and awareness to this very important and disturbing issue of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls,” said Tobi Strohan, associate vice-president of student services. “We hope that by providing such a prominent place for it and such a striking display, that it will give folks an opportunity to stop, reflect, and honour the lives of those lost.”
Deanna Speidel, Indigenous Strategy Coordinator, said the display is located in the main entrance of the building so that it will be one of the first things students and visitors see when they visit the building. The hope is to keep the issue at the front of mind.
The display features two red dresses, empty to symbolize the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls; one of which is sized for a toddler, to bring to light the reality of the ages of some victims.
A number of other spiritual items rest in the case, including a to-scale teepee, a white dreamcatcher, a pouch containing the four sacred medicines, an eagle feather, and a traditional Métis sash.
The items rest on a yellow cloth, symbolizing spring and the eastern direction of the medicine wheel. The backdrop is an image of various Indigenous languages floating over birch trees, the words listing the roles of these missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Dakota, Lakota, Denesuline, Cree, Salteaux, Michif, Nakoda, and English.
The REDress Project originated from Winnipeg artist Jaime Black, as an aesthetic response to the national issue. Black, on her website, says the installations across the nation are meant to “evoke a presence through the marking of absence.”
RCMP estimate the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls to be around 1,200, although the true number is likely much higher. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls estimates that number to be closer to 4,000.
