The Aboriginal People's Alliance of Northern Ontario (APANO) is doing their part to bring about awareness around the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
As of April 2015, there were approximately 1,750 missing or murdered aboriginal women, and APANO has been running their red dress campaign since February to push the importance of the issue.
APANO clients can dedicate a paper red dress cut out to friends and family members who have gone missing or been victims of domestic violence.
“Our clients and their families can put a name and message on the red dresses, so that when people come in they can put a name or a face to the dress,” said Tract Leblond, office administrator, APANO.
“There's a lot of people who unfortunately don't know about this, but we want people who have suffered or are missing somebody, they're not left out there, they're not forgotten.”
Many of the cases, according to Leblond, are a result of drugs and alcohol, and are swept under the rug and forgotten.
One APANO client's sister was murdered by a man who was heavily intoxicated and was found not guilty due to insanity.
“She feels that she was not justified, and unfortunately we find that this is the case in many of these situations,” said Leblond.
“We want to give these women a voice and help those who can't speak up.”
The windows at APANO's Durham Street location have been covered with red dresses, and the paper cut-outs hang from the ceiling inside the building.
The campaign is all over Canada as well, as many universities in both Saskatchewan and Alberta have taken to hanging up the red dresses on campus.
“APANO (Sudbury) is one of the only drop in centres in Northern Ontario and I'm not sure if any other agencies are doing this campaign,” said Leblond.
“We're trying to get the word out so that other agencies will do it."
