How these red ribbon skirts honour the memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

Jamie Smallboy says hearing the sound of the drums at a Women's Memorial March in Vancouver several years ago marked a turning point in her life.

Smallboy, who was homeless at the time, says she thought she was hallucinating when she turned the corner onto East Hastings Street to see thousands of Indigenous people and allies marching. When she asked a bystander what they were marching for, she was told it was to honour and remember missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).

"It made me cry because when I was homeless there were girls and women who taught me how to survive ... there are some of those girls [who] to this day I don't know what happened to them. They were part of my daily life and then they were just gone.

"Nobody ever knew what happened to them. They just disappeared."

Smallboy says feeling the spirit of the Women's Memorial March, which takes place on Feb. 14 in Vancouver each year, set her on a journey to begin reconnecting with her Indigenous roots — a journey that has led her to co-ordinate a project memorializing missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The idea for it began when she decided to return to Indigenous ceremonies, but realized she didn't have a skirt to wear to them, as is part of cultural protocol. Smallboy's sister, Josephine, gifted her two ribbon skirts. 

In many Indigenous cultures, women wear skirts to ceremonial and cultural events. The ribbon skirt has numerous teachings, including that its shape resembles a teepee. When worn, the skirt envelops the wearer's womb — and the life they are capable of holding within them — just as teepees have sheltered and sustained the lives of some First Nations people. 

Smallboy, who is Cree from Maskwacis, recalls being eight years old and attending a ceremony with her mother and aunties where each girl and woman wore her own ribbon skirt with unique colours. 

"I remember feeling sacred because we had our own colour of dress, that was my identity in the ribbon [skirt]. That's one of the times in my life that I felt the most genuine of who I am, was in that teepee in my ribbon [skirt]."  

Wanting to bring that same sense of identity to women who, like her, may not have something to wear to ceremonies, Smallboy had the idea to make red ribbon skirts for families affected by the MMIWG crisis.

While the ribbon is modern, First Nations women have always worn skirts to ceremonies. In the past, they were made with animal hides such as bison or deer. Today's skirts are often made with cotton, with colourful ribbons added onto them to carry a special meaning.

For the last six years, volunteers — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — have made Smallboy 's vision a reality, gathering together on the weekends ahead of the annual march to sew 100 red ribbon skirts. The skirts are then gifted to families at the march who are affected by the MMIWG crisis, with funding for supplies coming from the memorial march committee. 

Smallboy says every skirt is made with love and prayers that the woman who receives it is reunited with her missing or murdered loved one.

This year, due to her health, Smallboy has passed the project over to another long-time MMIWG advocate, Billie Sinclair.