By Adam Berls

red dress alert

Northwest BC MP pushing national red dress alert system

May 4, 2023 | 4:05 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — An MP from Northwestern B.C. and an MP from Winnipeg have joined forces to push Ottawa to create a national Red Dress Alert system.

Yesterday, a virtual event was held by Taylor Bachrach, NDP MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley and NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre Leah Gazan, with constituents to discuss their push for the federal government to create a national Red Dress Alert system. This system would use the cell phone network to alert the public when Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people are reported missing. Gazan noted that this is a crisis and that the government needs to act now.

“So the red dress alert is very much like an Amber Alert that you have when, for example, a child goes missing. We have weather alert systems. There’s already systems, preexisting systems that are already in place. But what it would be is for indigenous women and girls and diverse gendered individuals, there would be a red dress alert should we go missing.” – Leah Gazan, MP for Winnipeg Centre (NDP)

The Red Dress monument dedicated to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit people faces the Highway of Tears here in Prince George, and for those driving by, it is an important reminder of how many lives have been lost not only on this highway but across the country.

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“The tragic history of our highway is known across Canada and it’s an issue that’s very much still with us that there hasn’t been nearly enough work done to ensure the safety of women and girls in our communities and to ensure that when tragedy does occur, when people’s loved ones go missing, that there is a concerted and dedicated search.” – Taylor Bachrach, MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley (NDP)

This event came just one day after Parliament unanimously adopted MP Gazan’s motion calling on the federal government to declare ongoing violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people a national emergency and now Bachrach and Gazan say action must be taken by government to stop the violence.