Red Dress Day began in 2010 as the REDress project, initiated by Métis artist Jamie Black. The project brings awareness to the ongoing tragedy of race-based violence across Canada and the United States, which has resulted in thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.

The REDress Project has since evolved into a national movement. Now, every year on May 5, red dresses are hung in public spaces around the country as a call for justice for the victims and their loved ones. The empty dresses are a visual representation of the pain and loss felt by the families of victims and act as stand-ins for the staggering number of people who have been murdered or go missing each year.