Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ persons, boys and men who have been murdered or who have gone missing are being remembered on May 5 with marches in communities across the territory from Yellowknife to Behchokǫ̀, Gamètì, Hay River, Fort Smith and Inuvik.
May 5, the National Day of Awareness for Missing Murder Indigenous Women, Girls, Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people, is known as Red Dress Day.
Community leader and MMIWG2S advocate Sabet Biscaye has urged for those affected by the MMIWG2S crisis in need of support to contact the National Inquiry helpline(1-844-413-6649) or the NWT helpline at 1-800-661-0844.
The first Red Dress Day took place in 2010, inspired by Jaime Black’s REDress Project. Black hung empty red dresses as part of a commemoration and art installation to represent the thousands of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women.
Unsolved cases of Missing and Murdered young Indigenous women go back many decades.
More than 1,500 cases across the country have been documented to date on NWAC’s safe passage map.
Other public records document thousands more.
Leona Mae Brule from Le’Got She Deh was reported missing from Fort Providence, N.W.T. and last seen there on March 15 1989. Leona Mae Brule was just 18-years-old at the time and was working as a live-in nanny, travelling periodically to Edmonton to visit her boyfriend.
Mary Rose Keadjuk was last seen in the summer of 1990 at the Gold Range Hotel in Yellowknife, where she was staying with friends while attending Aurora College as a second year student.
Keadjuk was a mother to a four-year-old son who was staying with her parents while she focused on completing her studies. When she dissappeared she left behind her prescription eyeglasses, suggesting she had intended to return.
In 2018, forensic DNA analysis confirmed that the remains found near Con Mine belonged to Mary Keadjuk.
Charlene Candace Catholique went missing a few weeks after her 15th birthday. Charlene Candace Catholique is from the Lutselk’e First Nation and had attended an assembly in Yellowknife on July 20, 1990.
The meeting ended two days later on July 22 when she reportedly travelled to Fort Rae. Charlene Candace Catholique was last seen hitchhiking at the intersection of Highway 3 and Rae Access Road in Lutsel K’e.
Mariella Lennie went missing in October 1991. She was 17 years old and had come to Yellowknife from Tulita, moving to the city to attend school and was staying with family. Tragically, Mariella Lennie’s body was found in May 1992 floating in a dock near the Con Mine.
With 33 years now passed after losing her, Mariella Lennie’s family is still searching for answers.
Janet Sylvestre from the Dene Nation was last seen getting into a vehicle in Saskatoon on October 12, 1994.
The next day she was found deceased at a rural, wooded location about 14 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon. Sylvestre was just 38 years old.
Angela Meyer was only 22 years old when she went missing on November 27, 2010. Meyer went missing from her parents’ home while on a weekend pass from Stanton Territorial Hospital. She was seen walking in the Con Mine area.
Etandà Hardisty-Beaverho was only 12 years old when she was murdered in 2015. Her family had moved from Pehdzéh Kı̨ First Nation to Fort Liard.
“Our daughter was taken from us. She was 12 years old, full of energy, wanting to learn so much. And you know, just loved being out there, loved her family, loved her cousins. She brought great joy to our family,” said Melissa Hardisty, Etandà’s mother.
Frank Gruben had moved from Aklavik to Fort Smith to upgrade his education. Gruben was last seen in Fort Smith on May 2023, shortly after his 30th birthday.
Laura Kalinek remembered a community led search organized by her and Gruben’s friends did not get much help from the police. Kalinek remembered the way people from across the community pulled together to help find her son.
“[They] brought out their 4x4s, their drones, their boats. I don’t even know these people, but they went out helping,” said Kalinek.
Lance Briere went missing in February last year. He was last seen on Feb. 8, 2025, at the Gwich’in Wellness Camp south of Inuvik. Briere was 32 years old when he went missing.
Tara Carpenter a young woman from Inuvik was killed in October 2025. A man is facing second-degree murder charges in relation to her death.
This is a glimpse of the crises, with too many more loved ones who have gone missing or who have been murdered, part of a pattern that is documented across the country and Turtle Island.
The search for Lance Briere, like the search for Frank Gruben, was mainly community-led.
Kalinek’s experience is not isolated within the N.W.T. or the country. Hundreds of Indigenous families in other parts of the country have reported similar experiences.
The new Missing persons legislation, years in the making, was enacted in the N.W.T. in late January. Kalinek said she has a lot of hope it will bring change.
With the Missing Persons Act, police can access information on devices like personal cell phones and other kinds of tracking information, explained Kalinek.
“Now that the Missing Persons Act is out there now. Let’s get this going. We need to work together. We also need to bring my son home,” she urged.
Minister Kuptana said it could take time to see the full impact of the Missing Persons Act and supporting regulations, which came into effect on January 28.
The minister said the act makes way for additional tools to help police locate missing persons in cases where no criminal investigation is underway.
“The Act allows police to seek access to certain records through urgent demands, production orders, or search warrants to support timely investigations and remove barriers to acting quickly.”
Justice Minister Jay MacDonald said the new law advances Action 75 of the N.W.T.’s Changing the Relationship Action Plan, which was developed in response to the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry.
Advocates have also called on the RCMP to build a public database of cases.
Kalinek said she supports the call of advocates for a public database of missing persons like her son Frank Gruben, as one way to “get the word out.”
The latest data from Stats Canada for 2024 showed that the N.W.T. has the highest rate of homicides in the country. Data showed that the territory has a 13.41 per cent homicide rate, Nunavut had the second highest rate at 9.72 per cent, followed by Manitoba at 6.29.
A report from Stats Canada found that Indigenous people were more than eight times likely to be murdered in a homicide than non Indigenous people.
First Nations, Métis and Inuit people across the country face a disproportionate risks of violence. As community leaders have pointed out, these risks are rooted in the violences of colonization, including systemic discrimination, poverty and intergenerational trauma.
In 2024, Indigenous peoples made up three in 10 homicide victims, (about 30 per cent of total homicide victims in the country) while representing 5 per cent of the overall population of Canada.
The proportion of Indigenous homicide victims increased by 4 percentage points from 2023.
“With a homicide rate of 10.84 per 100,000 population in 2024, Indigenous peoples were victims of homicide at a rate over eight times higher than that of non-Indigenous Canadians,” said the report’s authors.
The data showed that among Indigenous homicide victims, increases were significantly higher for Indigenous women, with the number of homicides rising from 50 in 2023 to 71 in 2024. In 2024, homicides of Indigenous men also rose from 144 to 152.
As long time MMIWG2S advocate Mahalia Yakeleya-Newmark pointed out, these people have much to be remembered for beyond the tragedy of their loss.
These people were mothers, sisters, aunties, daughters, friends, parents, cousins, uncles who were loved and who had dreams and many years of life ahead of them.
Soaring Eagle Red Dress Day march organizers emphasized, the dresses are not empty, “they are filled with spirit, strength and love”
