Remember Red

Editor’s Note: A quick heads-up: this piem is from our archives. While a few of the minor details belong to yesterday, the heart and soul of this issue are very much alive today. Let’s look back at how it unfolded.

May 5th, 2026
MMIW day,
Across Turtle Island, the day is observed.
As folks looked at the red dresses displayed.

At Land Back/ Sankofa Square.
The program started at 12:30 at noon.

Each dress representing
Missing & murdered indigenous sisters…
Their cries can be heard through the cool
Air.

Across the world
The colour red is known to be the colour
That spirits see.
Wearing red is some cultures means
The spirit has unresolved things,
So, the living are on a quest to let them know
That they are still remembered.

Wearing red
So, the souls that were trapped in this
Spiritual plane, can hopefully find
Rest and finally exit this world in peace.

Elder’s prayers in their Anishinaabe Tongue to introduce and give thanks
To the Earth and living creatures.
Teachings on the gift of Nabe, water
In memory of the water walker.
Sacred songs where cameras and phones
Were asked to be put down,
To respect the ceremonial singing and dancing.

Folks sat in a circle as the jingle dresses
Danced around their healing songs.
Eagle feathers brushed off residual
Entities of pain, sickness & sorrows.
A helper swinging a bucket of smudge
To purify the air.

The sky starts to cry alongside the babies
That never made it back to their families
But instead….
Becoming the silenced when other nations
Get media coverage.
Silenced, but remarks on why they were
Murdered and Missing.

A paper held up high of the 94 calls of
Action by the Reconciliation & Truth
Commission, calling on all allies to learn
And stand alongside the original caretakers on the land we stand on.
Recommendations that the government
Continues to brush aside.
But we, as the people, can still stand tall
Shouting out the truths!

Ribbon skirts of different colours that were
Given through ceremony.
Attendees whose loved ones are in restless confinement, or unanswered
Prayers they still seek.

Searching,
A closure matters.
But closures come faster than others
Depending on media attention
Or skin colour.
Closure comes faster to the loudest
And the largest crowds.
Some groups receive more support,
While others are left to mourn
Because their status ain’t high enough.

Please don’t forget our missing & murdered.
They are someone’s child.
Someone’s sibling,
Parent,
Peer,
Community member that has someone
Who prays to have lived together,
Grow old together in a long life
Without sudden endings like a harsh
Blizzard.