Indigenous-led Red Dress Alert program must be implemented in Manitoba 'without delay': report

A Manitoba Red Dress Alert program must launch no later June 2026 and be implemented through an Indigenous-led independent organization, says a report released Tuesday.

The final report on the Red Dress Alert emphasizes the importance of Indigenous control as well Indigenous cultural and spiritual practices guiding the organization in order to ensure trust from those it will serve.

The 40-page report comes out of 43 public engagement sessions over the past year on how a Red Dress Alert system should work.

"We are now calling on Manitoba to adopt provincial Red Dress Alert legislation to ensure that this commitment to protecting the lives of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people will endure," Sandra DeLaronde wrote in the report, which was released at an event in Winnipeg.

DeLaronde is chair of Giganawenimaanaanig, the committee that headed up the report and engagement sessions. Giganawenimaanaanig translates as "we all take care of them."

"In the last five years alone, 104 Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ relatives have been murdered in Manitoba. That number is already equal to the total number of our loved ones lost in the entire preceding decade," DeLaronde wrote.

"This is a crisis that demands co-ordinated, urgent action."

A Red Dress Alert law is necessary to establish clear protocols and processes, ensure accountability at all levels and facilitate cross-jurisdictional co-operation and co-ordination while maintaining autonomy, the report says.

The alert would quickly mobilize police, government agencies, service organizations and communities in the critical hours after an Indigenous woman, girl, two-spirit or gender diverse person goes missing.

It would also send a notification to people's mobile phones, similar to how an Amber Alert works.

The report stresses the "extreme urgency" of establishing an effective notification system and Giganawenimaanaanig is now calling on all three levels of government to get the program running by June 2026 at the latest.

The Red Dress system must be more than just an alert, however, the report says. It must play an integral role in a comprehensive, holistic and co-ordinated response that is culturally safe and trauma-informed.

It should provide 24/7 wraparound supports for families, survivors and communities, and include emotional, crisis and mental health services, financial assistance and long-term healing supports and resources.

It should reach out to organizations and service providers that may have had contact with the missing person, sending targeted alert to communities, neighbourhoods and organizations most likely to have information about the missing person.