After years of waiting, the Prince George Red Dress Society is getting ready to unveil a monument dedicated to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit People (MMIWG) along Highway 16 known as the Highway of Tears.
“This year is the big year,” said Tammy Miese, president of the Prince George Red Dress Society.
In 2019 the society was provided with funding by the federal government under the department for women and gender equality with the endorsement of Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, to design and install a monument.
The monument, located at the corner of Ferry Avenue and Highway 16 near the cemetery, will now be unveiled on Sunday, Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. as part of the Red Dress Campaign followed by an event at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park at 3 p.m..
Red Dresses have been widely adopted as a symbol to raise awareness for murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls since Métis artist Jamie Black’s 2010 art project.
The community is encouraged to bring a red dress to the unveiling before the event at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park where the dresses will be hung in the trees.
“We bring our red dresses, we don't wear them, you bring them and you hold them and it's to honour your loved ones that have gone and it is symbolic of a life taken,” said Miese.
She said the day will also include guest speakers, entertainment, and opportunities for families to speak.
“It is truly a community event. The support that we've had from the community has been nothing but amazing,” said Miese.
“I'm so incredibly proud to be to live in Prince George and say my roots are here. When you offer or provide an opportunity for people to be a part of something bigger than themselves - It's amazing what your community does.”
Miese said she hopes the monument will inspire people to start a conversation about safety and to raise awareness of MMIWG.
One of the recommendations in the 2006 Highway of Tears Symposium Report was to have monuments around Highway 16 in every community to raise awareness.
“As a family member and as an advocate for the last 28 years, it's been a task of working behind the scenes, I guess you could say, pushing forward a voice for Northern BC to have these monuments in different places along Highway 16,” said Red Dress Society member Brenda Wilson, whose sister Ramona Wilson went missing in 1994 in Smithers, B.C.
“And to see them all start to pop up and be in all these communities, such as Terrace, Smithers, and Prince George, it's amazing. It is truly a dream come true for since 2006, this symposium happened and many of the family members wanted to see this happen and the majority of us are going to see it happen.”
She said some mothers and fathers of the missing and murdered have since passed on and haven’t lived to see these monuments come to fruition.
“But for the ones that are still here it brings us some comfort in knowing that this is happening and that these places are going to be available for the healing process to begin, or to bring awareness to MMIW and to their loved ones.”
More information on the unveiling is available through the Red Dress Society’s Facebook event page.
