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WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is welcoming a report on a potential Red Dress Alert system that could protect missing Indigenous women and girls.
The federal and Manitoba governments have been looking at the idea, which would be similar to Amber Alerts for abducted children, under a pilot project run by a grassroots organization.
A final report from the group says the proposed system could be in place next year and should be accompanied by a 24-hour call centre, professional help in communicating with police, and support for searches by ground, water and air.
Manitoba Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine says the report is not asking anything of the province right now but the government is supportive of the idea.
She says people have been asking for a Red Dress Alert system for 20 years.
In a 2023 report, Statistics Canada said the homicide rate for Indigenous women and girls was six times higher than the rate for their non-Indigenous counterparts.
“I said at the first initial press conference that we had on this a while back that a Red Dress Alert ensures that Indigenous women and girls and gender-diverse folks know that their province, their community and their country believe and know that their lives are valuable,” Fontaine said Tuesday.
The report Tuesday came from Giganawenimaanaanig, which translates to “we all take care of them.” The group was funded by the federal and Manitoba government and held community engagement sessions in rural and urban communities across Manitoba earlier this year.
“Giganawenimaanaanig heard very clearly that current processes to report a missing person and initiate a search do not meet the urgent needs of Indigenous communities,” the report said.
“Police are not viewed as trustworthy or culturally competent. This leads to delays in reporting missing persons. It also contributes to slow and ineffective police responses and further traumatization of affected families and communities. We heard that communities want an Indigenous-led alert system.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2025.
Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
