Understanding a Canadian Crisis: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, director of the First Peoples House of Learning at Trent, underscores the importance of Red Dress Day
Red Dress Day is an annual observance to build awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2 Spirit+ people (MMIWG2S+), and draws attention to the systems that increase vulnerability of Indigenous women.
“Red Dress Day is an important opportunity to draw attention to the systemic factors that increase the vulnerability of Indigenous women,” explains Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, who has worked throughout her career to advance the rights of Indigenous women. “It is about helping to breakdown stereotypes.”
Professor Lavell-Harvard has been an integral leader serving as the president of the Ontario Native Women’s Association, and who played a role in the initiation of the MMIWG2S+ Inquiry in Canada. She is also the co-editor of several books including “Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada,” co-edited with Jennifer Brant in 2016.
“The book was published just as the inquiry was starting,” explains Prof. Lavell-Harvard. “We really wanted to bring the stories forward, and also to tell those stories from a perspective of resilience and strength.”
Learn more about Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.