05/05/2026
May 5 is the National Day of Awareness and Remembrance for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people (Red Dress Day).
Red dresses hung in our communities represent Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people who are missing and murdered. This is not just history. It is an ongoing crisis rooted in colonization, systemic racism, and violence.
In Canada, 63% of Indigenous women have experienced physical or sexual assault. This violence is rooted in the same systemic inequities that continue to shape access to and experiences within healthcare.
Indigenous patients continue to face bias, dismissal, and inequitable access to care, including in how pain is understood, believed, and treated. In chronic pain care, where trust and validation matter, this has real consequences.
Wearing red matters. But it’s not enough.
This day calls for more than awareness. It calls for accountability, for listening to Indigenous voices, and for meaningful action that addresses the systems allowing this to continue.
We remember. We acknowledge. And we commit to doing better.
