May 5 is a National Day of Awareness for MMIWG2S (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2-Spirited Individuals), also known as Red Dress Day.

To draw attention to this, Métis artist Jaime Black helped inspire the red dress movement, where red dresses are hung to represent the pain and loss felt by loved ones and survivors.  The goal was to speak to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Indigenous people and to evoke a presence by marking their absence.

Along with the Red Dress Campaign is the Moose Hide Campaign, which was founded in 2011 as a grassroots initiative along British Columbia’s Highway of Tears—a region marked by the tragic disappearance and murder of many Indigenous women and girls. The campaign encourages men and boys, alongside all Canadians, to commit to ending gender-based violence by wearing a moose hide pin.

See our PRAYER LIFE page for a prayer for May 5, National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirited People

Thought and Prayer of the Day
by James Wagner

May 1, 2025

In advance of the National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman and Girls Day on Monday May 5th, James Wagner of our Truth and Reconciliation Team shares a personal story of answered prayer.

The Power of Collective Prayer

My work as a Senior Advisor in Indigenous Relations offers me the privilege to travel across Canada to visit First Nation and Metis Communities.  About 4 years ago I had the honour of travelling to New Brunswick to visit Bilijk First Nation (formerly known as Kingsclear First Nation) and attend their Pow Wow.  Bilijk First Nation is located west of Fredericton along the St. John River.

A little bit about Bilijk First Nation.  Bilijk First Nation is part of traditional homeland of  the Wolastoqey Nation.  Wolastoqey translated into english means “People of the Bountiful River”.  That bountiful river is the St. John River but to the Wolastoqey it is the Wolastoq; “the bountiful river”.

Driving to the reserve, off of the main highway out of Fredericton, I came to the  Wolastoq and to the left was an absolutely massive hydro dam and to the left Bilijk First Nation reserve where the Pow Wow was taking place.  In honour of their own community’s women and girls who had gone missing, the First Nation displayed a red dress in the center of the Pow Wow circle.  At high noon, all the women and girls were invited to dance in the circle to call on the spirits of the missing women and girls to find their way back home.  From Elders barely able to walk, to infants just barely old enough to walk all came into the circle in the jingle dresses.  These dresses were lined with small bells, some of metal and others made of bone.  Even with the lightest of steps, these dresses would ring to the heavens, what a beautiful sound.  Well over 50 women and girls danced that afternoon in honour of their ancestors, loved ones, friends and family who had gone missing.

Their prayers had been heard.  The following day, the Emcee to the Pow Wow shared that the Chief to Bilijk First Nation received a call from the RCMP shortly after the jingle dress dance.  The RCMP informed the chief that they had identified the remains of a women found in Toronto back in the 70s as a member of their First Nation.  To my knowledge, Bilijk First Nation and the RCMP collaborated to return the remains back to her community shortly after the Pow Wow.

Prayer:
Creator God,
accept all we offer you this day:
our prayers for your vulnerable children;
our grief for your beloved Indigenous women
our hope in your healing and reconciling love.
Receive the sacred colours, food, and medicines we lay before you
and, through them, work the healing of our souls
for the service of your mission.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,  Amen.

Prayer from the National Anglican Vigil Resource

FaithWorks is a charitable programme of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto.  We offer support to Ministry Partners as they serve the needs of people who are Indigenous, homeless, hungry, at-risk women, children or youth, immigrants or refugees, or living with HIV/AIDS. We help them build communities of compassion and hope. As followers of Jesus, we offer new life.

FaithWorks

• allows us to share our blessings with others who are vulnerable and marginalized right here in our community and around the world.
• has provided more than $35 million to Anglican-affiliated ministries over the last 25 years.
• helps feed, shelter, nurture and befriend almost 49,000 people throughout our communities and around the world every year.

Find out more about FaithWorks Ministry Partners and how your FaithWorks gift will be used

Meet someone whose life has been impacted by your donation to FaithWorks through the work of our ministry partners. Please take a few seconds to learn her story:

Share in a light meal and learn the significance of the dream catcher and how to make one at a May 9, 6pm workshop led by Kathy Morgan, member of The Metis Nation of Ontario.

Space is limited to 25 households.

Please register by emailing office@nullallsaintswhitby.org