MSVU plans to commemorate Red Dress Day on Friday to mark violence on Indigenous women
Posted May 1, 2024 10:42:38 AM.
Last Updated May 1, 2024 12:40:36 PM.
A Halifax university will be marking Red Dress Day on Friday to help raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S+ people.
According to statistics from the Assembly of First Nations, Indigenous women are four times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of violence.
That is why Mount Saint Vincent University is marking Red Dress Day early, with a number of events geared to spotlight such a tragic fact on Friday.
Hosted by the Indigenous Student Centre Team at MSVU, everyone is welcome to come listen to guest speaker Denise Pictou Maloney at 10 a.m.
The daughter of murdered Mi’kmaq activist Annie Mae Aquash, who was murdered in the 1970s and her body found at the base of the cliff in South Dakota, Maloney will speak outdoors in front of the Seton Academic Centre.
As well, MSVU will hang a number of red dresses around its Bedford Highway campus to commemorate the lives lost and everyone is encouraged to wear red Friday as well as Sunday, May 5, which is officially Red Dress Day.
One of the pillars of MSVU’s current strategic plan, ‘Strength Through Community”, is a commitment to advancing meaningful truth and reconciliation, including providing education and raising awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit People.