Students participate in Red Dress Day ceremony in Langford

Hundreds of kids from four different Sooke School District (SD62) schools gathered at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Langford on Friday to pay their respects to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

The students were led by Indigenous drummers and elders who marched from their schools to the park to mark Red Dress Day, which falls on May 5.

Red Dress Day started in 2010 as a way to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two spirit+ people in Canada.

According to a 2014 report by the RCMP, Indigenous women are four times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women in Canada.

“Imagine if your sister, your aunt, a woman in your family that’s very close to you, went missing, and nobody knew where they were,” said tła’tłako (Doreen Scow), a speaker at Friday’s event.

“It would be scary right? Yep, it would be scary,” Scow told students. “Unfortunately, this happens way too often for Indigenous women and girls, they disappear and they don’t come back.”

Students from Ruth King Elementary, Savory Elementary, Spencer Middle School, and David Cameron Elementary participated in the walk and ceremony.

SEE ALSO: ‘It really hits home’: Families of missing and murdered Indigenous women gather on Red Dress Day

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