NDP MP Urges Feds To Create 'Red Dress Alert' For Missing Indigenous Women

A Winnipeg MP is urging the federal government to create a Red Dress Alert program to urgently notify the public when Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people go missing.

Leah Gazan penned a letter to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on Friday urging the government to fund what she and other advocates call a "Red Dress Alert" program.

"We shouldn't have to beg for our safety," Gazan said in an interview Wednesday.

"In Canada, we are still begging for safety and to live in dignity as Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people."

In the letter, Gazan wrote that a Red Dress Alert would function similarly to the existing Amber Alerts.

In these alerts, the public is notified of the suspected abduction of children who are in immediate danger.

She says it would help increase the likelihood that someone who goes missing will be found.

Early alert programs like Amber alerts have been proven to help ensure missing individuals are found safe.

Gazan notes that in Ontario, police say more than 90 per cent of Amber Alerts lead to safe recovery of children. 60 per cent of missing adult reports in 2021 were removed within 24 hours, while 89 per cent were removed within a week.

Gazan stressed the urgency to put in place such a program to save Indigenous lives.