Brandy Vittrekwa.
Loretta Eileen Peters.
Lisa Marie Young.
Three names. Three missing or murdered Indigenous women or girls. Three people who deserve to be remembered.
On Monday, May 5, people gathered across Canada, to remember hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. The day is known as Red Dress Day or the National Day of Awareness for MMIWG2S.
The day is called Red Dress Day after Metis artist Jaime Black's REDress Project, which used red dresses in art installations to remember MMIWG. Someone once told Black that red is the only colour that spirits can see.
In Nuu-chah-nulth and Maa-nulth territories around Vancouver Island, people gathered for barbecues, teas or walks of remembrance, to honour those who are lost.
At the Huu-ay-aht First Nations government office in Port Alberni, the day weighed heavily for Kiana Mio. She carried a large, colourful poster of Brandy Vitrrekwa, Mio's friend from Whitehorse, Yukon who was murdered in December 2014. Brandy was just 17.
Mio choked up while talking about her friend. "I moved (to Whitehorse) when I was 16 years old and became very close with Brandy. I won't go into the details of what happened, but we lost her to a very violent death."
Mio said it was important to her to talk about her friend, to say her name. To remember. "I think the most important thing is gathering together as a community to grieve," she said. "It's a heavy day, but an important day."
Colleen Peters lit a candle for her mother, Loretta Eileen Peters, who was murdered on March 31, 1979 in Duncan. "I was young when she passed away," Colleen said. "I'm just starting to come out of it more. I've not really talked about it before."
Colleen Peters said this is only the third Red Dress Day where she felt ready to share her mother's story. "It's been a long time since I've talked about it," she said quietly.
Irene Robinson of Tseshaht First Nation was invited to speak at the Huu-ay-aht event in Port Alberni. She asked everyone gathered to say the names of women or girls that they have lost. Most people spoke one or two names, said Robinson.
She said a day like Red Dress Day is important to raise awareness and to move forward. "It's keeping it not only here but (in our hearts) so we can look at it and we can talk about it. It's not an easy thing to talk about if you're affected."
She said the effect of residential schools is still being felt several generations later. "When you're a child and no one ever tells you 'I love you,' when you're treated like you don't matter, when you're treated like everything that you learned growing up is not only irrelevant but bad, you don't feel good about yourself.
"A lot of people didn't know how to deal with that trauma, there wasn't a word for it then."
She said change is happening, but slowly.
A similar event was held at the Huu-ay-aht Government Office in Anacla, near Bamfield on the west coast. Anacla was a summer village for the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, first destroyed in a tsunami in the 1700s and then rebuilt.
The Port Alberni Friendship Center held a tea and dessert Monday morning on May 5 to recognize and honour the lost lives of Indigenous women and girls. Lisa Watts held a Beading Red Dresses workshop on Tuesday, May 6 at the Uchucklesaht Tribe's offices on Redford Street and Fifth Avenue.
The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation on the west coast held an MMIWG Call for Justice walk in Opitsaht.
The Tseshaht First Nation reminded everyone that May 5 is also the birthday of Lisa Marie Young, a 21-year-old woman from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation who disappeared from Nanaimo under suspicious circumstances in 2002.
"Monday, May 5, 2025 is the 15th annual Red Dress Day. This annual event is held in memory of the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People across Canada," a Tseshaht spokesperson posted on social media.
"Today people across Canada wear red calling attention to the disproportionate rates of violence against Indigenous women."
That, says Robinson, is why it is so important to say the names of the missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.
"So they're not forgotten."
