The federal government says it is making progress on a pilot program for an alert system that would inform the public when an Indigenous woman or girl is missing.
The federal and Manitoba governments have been working on a Red Dress Alert system.
It would be similar to Amber Alerts, which are used when a child is abducted, and the aim is to eventually make it countrywide.
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Gary Anandasangaree, the federal minister for Crown-Indigenous Relations, says a Manitoba Indigenous group has been selected to lead the pilot, which was first announced in May.
Statistics Canada said in a report last year that the homicide rate for Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than the rate for their non-Indigenous counterparts.
The federal budget set aside $1.3 million to develop and implement the alert system.
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The Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) in Manitoba feels a Red Dress Alert system will save lives.
“Our beautiful First Nation sisters go missing far too often,” said Gerry Daniels, grand chief of SCO, which represents 33 Anishinaabe and Dakota First Nations, in a release Friday. “Tragically, many don’t come home, and families are left grieving and without answers.
“MMIWG2S+ is a national emergency, the violence is a national epidemic, and it is time that First Nations voices were heard.”
A Manitoba organization called Giganawenimaanaanig, which translates to “we all take care of them” that SCO helped found, led the way to bringing the Red Dress Alert pilot project to reality, added Daniels.
“If we had listened to our Survivors and families at the National Inquiry, the Red Dress Alert program would already be in place,” said Sandra DeLaronde, co-chair of Giganawenimaanaanig, formerly known as the Manitoba MMIWG2S+ Implementation Committee.
Finally here
“I am pleased we are finally here, and we will listen to families, survivors, and community as the program is designed.”
Giganawenimaanaanig hopes the Red Dress Alert pilot program will be operational in a year’s time in Manitoba.
Still to be worked out, noted DeLaronde, is the level of police involvement.
“There is extreme distrust of police which is why our women, and all Indigenous people, must have a voice in the process and be a large part of the Red Dress Alert system when it is up and running,” she said in the release.
-with files by Kathleen Martens
