Red Dress Alert program must be in place by May 2026, says report from organization leading project [Video]

All levels of government must act quickly to establish a notification system within the next year that would help find missing Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Manitoba, the organization spearheading the project says.

A Red Dress Alert would prompt notifications to the public whenever an Indigenous woman, girl or two-spirit person goes missing, as an Amber Alert does now for missing children.

Giganawenimaanaanig, the Manitoba committee implementing calls for justice from the national MMIWG inquiry, released an interim report on Tuesday detailing the development of the program, which started after Manitoba MP Leah Gazan put forth a motion in Parliament in 2023 to fund an alert system.

Survivors and family members, along with leadership and representatives from First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, attended 29 engagement sessions held as of January throughout the province, in both rural and urban communities, the report says.

Participants in the engagement sessions …