Starting May 5, 2024
Red Dress Day honors the memories of missing and/or murdered indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people in numbers disproportionate to the rest of the general population in Canada.
While Indigenous women represent only 5% of the country's population, they account for 25% of women victims of homicide. Although the exact number of victims varies depending on the source, it fluctuates from 1,181 to 4,000 between 1980 and 2012, and the toll continues to increase to this day.
Red Dress Day was inspired by Anishinabe and Finnish artist Jamie Black's REDress Project, an art installation created in 2011. This installation was intended as an aesthetic response to a national crisis. The empty red dresses represent the missing and murdered Indigenous women who are no longer with us. These dresses have become the symbol of a violent crisis stemming from racism and sexism against Indigenous women and girls across the country.
On display in La Guilde's corner window, the installation commemorating the day features the exceptional work of Jocelyne Bellefleur. We thank her for her invaluable collaboration.
About the artist
Jocelyne Bellefleur is Innu from Uashat mak Mani-utenam and discovered sewing in 2022. She bought a sewing machine and set to work on her first creations. Creativity flowed right from her first dresses - regalia for herself and her daughter. After taking pow-wow classes, she began making traditional garments such as skirts for Innu women.
Recently, Jocelyne also had the chance to learn beadwork and immediately began making earrings and medallions. She also made three skirts that were worn as part of a procession in honor of Joyce Echaquan. Her dream now is to become a fashion designer and use her creations to open a store where she would like to sell to both men and women..