‘No more stolen sisters’: MMIWG2S honoured in Edmonton vigil for Red Dress Day

Edmontonians walked for Red Dress Day to raise awareness of ongoing violence against Indigenous girls and women on Tuesday.

“No more stolen sisters.”

That was a statement that echoed through a crowd donning red in honour of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two Spirit individuals in Edmonton on Tuesday.

“We need a call to action. We need awareness,” said vigil organizer Fran Chalifoux. “We need people to know that we’re here.”

Chalifoux’s niece, Sierra, was killed in a stabbing in 2020 when she was just 13 years old.

“She was our family’s light … It still feels like something that happened to us six years ago, feels like it happened yesterday,” said Chalifoux. “I wake up wishing she would call me.”

Dozens of people walked through Alberta Avenue, holding signs with the pictures and names of those missing and murdered.

Chalifoux said the justice system continues to fail Indigenous people.

“You look at what happened with Samuel Bird and how the justice system is failing us,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “They’re giving all of these murderers short time when they deserve more.

“We shouldn’t have to be left with a lifetime of grief.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti