Research Guides: TRU Library Book Displays: Red Dress Day

On Display at TRU Library's Learning Commons

Red Dress Day

Every year on May 5th, red dresses can be seen hanging in the breeze as a sign of remembrance and solidarity for the many Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People who disappear and never come home to their families and loved ones. Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day of Awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People, was founded in 2010, when Métis artist Jaime Black created what was known as the REDress Project: hanging red dresses in public spaces to bring to mind the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People. It is a time to reflect on those who have become victims of violence. It's a time to stand together against the injustices inflicted on Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+, to bring awareness and activism for lasting change.

Please read the trigger warnings below and consider the help resources before exploring the picks for this month's book display.

Trigger Warning and Help Resources

Trigger warning:

This display examines the ongoing genocide experienced by Indigenous women, girls, transgender, gender-diverse, and Two-Spirit peoples across Canada. It addresses sexual, gendered, racial, and colonial violence, along with other critical discussions.

As you engage with these materials, we encourage you to prioritize your well-being and seek support if needed. Services are listed below.

On Campus (for TRU students)

Cplul’kw’ten: House 5; 250-371-5972; indigenous@tru.ca

Multi-Faith Chaplaincy: OM 1421; 250-371-5940

Counselling Services: OM 1631; 250-828-5023; fsd@tru.ca

Sexualized Violence Prevention and Response Office: OM 1486; 250-828-5023; svpr@tru.ca

In the Community

Kuu-Us Crisis Line Society BC Wide Indigenous Toll Free Crisis and Support Line 1-800-KUU-US17 or 1-800-588-8717 (24/7 support)

Hope for Wellness Call 1-855-242-3310 or chat online (24/7 support)

Métis Crisis Line 1-833-MétisBC (1-833-638-4722) (24/7 support)

Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre 694 Seymour St. Kamloops 250-372-0179; 1-888-974-7278 (24/7 support) ksacc@ksacc.ca

GuardMe Student Support Program 1-844-451-9700 (24/7 support) Interior Crisis Line Network 1-888-353-CARE x 2273 (24/7 support)

National Suicide Crisis Helpline 988, call or text (24/7 support)

BC Mental Health Crisis & Crisis Response 310-6789 (24/7 support, no area code needed)

BC Suicide Prevention and Intervention Line 1-800-SUICIDE or 1-800-784-2433 (24/7 support)

Red Dress Day

Keetsahnak / Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters by Kim Anderson (Editor); Maria Campbell (Editor); Christi Belcourt (Editor)
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781772123906
Publication Date: 2018-06-04
This important collective volume both witnesses the significance of the travelling exhibition Walking With Our Sisters and creates a model for antiviolence work from an Indigenous perspective. The editors look at the roots of violence and how it diminishes life for all. They acknowledge the destruction wrought by colonial violence, and also look at controversial topics such as lateral violence, challenges in working with "tradition," and problematic notions involved in "helping." Through stories of resilience, resistance, and activism, the editors give voice to powerful personal testimony and allow for the creation of knowledge.
Violence Against Indigenous Women: literature, activism, resistance by Allison Hargreaves
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781771122504
Publication Date: 2017-08-24
With the advent of provincial and national inquiries into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, a larger public conversation is now underway. Indigenous women's literature is a critical site of knowledge-making and critique. Violence Against Indigenous Women provides a foundation for reading this literature in the context of Indigenous feminist scholarship and activism and the ongoing intellectual history of Indigenous women's resistance
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781771648165
Publication Date: 2023-05-30
Unbroken is an extraordinary work of memoir and investigative journalism focusing on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, written by an award-winning Gitxsan journalist who survived life on the streets against all odds.
Forever loved : exposing the hidden crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in Canada by edited by D. Memee Lavell-Harvard and Jennifer Brant.
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781772580655
Publication Date: 2016
The hidden crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada is both a national tragedy and a national shame. Linking colonial practices with genocide, the authors explore the current statistics, root causes and structural components of the issue, including conversations on policing, media and education. The contributing authors illustrate the resilience, strength, courage, and spirit of Indigenous women and girls as they struggle to survive in a society shaped by racism and sexism, patriarchy and misogyny.
Justice, Indigenous Peoples, and Canada by Kathryn M. Campbell (Editor); Stephanie Wellman (Editor)
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9780367074555
Publication Date: 2023-12-19
Justice, Indigenous Peoples, and Canada: A History of Courage and Resilience brings together the work of a number of leading researchers to provide a broad overview of criminal justice issues that Indigenous people in Canada have faced historically and continue to face today. Both Indigenous and Canadian scholars situate current issues of justice for Indigenous peoples, broadly defined, within the context of historical realities and ongoing developments. By examining how justice is defined, both from within Indigenous communities and outside of them.
How We Go Home : Voices From Indigenous North America by Sara Sinclair
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781642593907
Publication Date: 2020
In a myriad of ways, each contributors life has been shaped by loss, injustice, and resilience—and by the struggle of how to share space with settler nations whose essential aim is to take all that is Indigenous. The stories shared are among many of the ongoing contemporary struggles to preserve Native lands and lives.
Not Sacred, Not Squaws: Indigenous Feminism Redefined by Cherry Smiley
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781925950649
Publication Date: 2023-04-04
Decolonizing feminism always prioritizes the collective liberation of Indigenous and other women and names patriarchy as the central component of women's oppression. In this novel, Cherry Smiley analyses colonization and proposes a decolonized feminism enlivened by Indigenous feminist theory. This book is a refreshing feminist contemporary challenge to the patriarchal ideology that governs our world and a vigorous and irreverent defense against the attempts to silence Indigenous radical feminists.
Reclaiming power and place : final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Calls for justice. by National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (Canada)
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9780660292748
Publication Date: 2019
The National Inquiry’s Final Report reveals that persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people. The Final Report is comprised of the truths of more than 2,380 family members, survivors of violence, experts and Knowledge Keepers shared over two years of cross-country public hearings and evidence gathering. It delivers 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.
A legal analysis of genocide : supplementary report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girl by National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Call Number: (ebook)
Publication Date: 2019
Represents views and opinions of the National Inquiry after consultations with legal scholars and lawyers with expertise on genocide and international crimes. Topics include: definition, Canada's actions and omissions as genocidal conduct, Canada's specific intent to destroy Indigenous peoples, and Canada's responsibility for genocide and obligations for reparations.
Unsettling Colonialism in the Canadian Criminal Justice System by Vicki Chartrand (Editor); Josephine Savarese (Editor)
Call Number: (ebook)
ISBN: 9781778290039
Publication Date: 2024-02-02
Through the mechanisms of surveillance, segregation, and containment, the justice system ensures that Indigenous peoples remain in a state of economic deprivation, social isolation, and political subjection. Contributors to this volume examine historical expressions and ongoing reinforcement of settler colonialism with a view to illuminating how it manifests in contemporary police actions and criminal proceedings. Using an anti-colonial lens, alternative conceptualizations and practices of justice are explored.
Highway of Tears: a true story of racism, indifference, and the pursuit of justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls by Jessica McDiarmid
Call Number: E 78 .B9 M34 2019
ISBN: 9781501160288
Publication Date: 2019-11-12
For decades, Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been found murdered along an isolated stretch of highway in northwestern British Columbia. The corridor is known as the Highway of Tears, and it has come to symbolize a national crisis. Journalist Jessica McDiarmid meticulously investigates the devastating effect these tragedies have had on the families of the victims and their communities, and how systemic racism and indifference have created a climate in which Indigenous women and girls are overpoliced yet under protected.

Streaming Videos

The Red Dress by Michael Scott
Renowned Métis author and screenwriter Maria Campbell explores themes of cultural identity, sexual assault and the familial impact of colonialism in The Red Dress, echoing the themes of her seminal memoir, Halfbreed.
Kelly is a Métis man without treaty or hunting rights, struggling to sustain his traditional life. His daughter Theresa longs for a red dress from France that she believes will give her power and strength, as the bear claw once did for her great-grandfather Muskwa. When Theresa escapes an assault and Kelly turns his back on his daughter, he realizes that he must reconnect with his culture in order to make things right. Today, the red dress is a powerful symbol recognizing over 1000 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
Finding Dawn by Christine Welsh
Acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh brings us a compelling documentary that puts a human face on a national tragedy – the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The film takes a journey into the heart of Indigenous women's experience, from Vancouver's skid row, down the Highway of Tears in northern BC, and on to Saskatoon, where the murders and disappearances of these women remain unsolved.

Events & More Information

Thompson Rivers University - National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People Event

Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc - Red Dress Day Event

Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society - Red Dress Day Walk

Government of Canada - Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQI+ People