Hon. Michèle Audette: [Editor’s Note: Senator Audette spoke in Innu-aimun.]

Colleagues, I am rising today to talk about Red Dress Day, which is observed on May 5.

This day is an opportunity to pay tribute to the thousands of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people who are victims of disproportionate violence in Canada and to raise public awareness about this issue.

This is, of course, a time to raise public awareness about this issue, but it’s also an opportunity to remind all levels of government across Canada that immediate action is needed.

As you know, in the wake of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the Senate has been talking about human rights violations. The evidence is there. Indigenous women and girls make up less than 5% of the Canadian population, but they account for 24% of female homicide victims. That’s a lot, right here in Canada.

As the Assembly of First Nations has said, we need to breathe life into the Calls for Justice.

In May 2023, the House of Commons unanimously supported a motion declaring the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a Canada-wide emergency. The motion also called for funding for a new system to alert the public when someone goes missing.

Yes, it is still an emergency here.

In December 2023, the federal government launched consultations on the creation of a national red dress alert system. The 2024 federal budget proposes to develop a regional system before a national one.

A budget of $1.3 million over three years to address an emergency is too little, too late, considering the pressing need for concrete action.

For us, the families, and the people who have lost loved ones, our patience has reached its limit. People have no more patience. They’re tired and they’re feeling all sorts of emotions.

The emergency has been going on for decades, but the government is still not acknowledging it in a tangible way. We want prevention now. We want to break out of reaction mode in the face of all these tragedies.

Every minute counts. Imagine if it were your daughter, your mother or your sister.

Tshinashkumitnau.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear.