Red dress alert program to be launched in Manitoba no later than June 2026 and will be implemented through an independent Indigenous-led organization, the report said Tuesday.
The final report on the Red Dress Alert emphasizes the importance of Indigenous control. cultural and spiritual practices that guide the organization to ensure the trust of those he will serve.
40 page report leaves 43 public engagement sessions over the past year on how Red dress warning the system should work.
“We are now calling on Manitoba to enact a provincial Red Wear Alert Act to ensure this commitment to protecting the lives of 2SLGBTQQIA+ women, girls and Indigenous people continues.” Sandra DeLaronde wrote in the report.which was presented at the event in Winnipeg.
DeLaronde is chairman Giganavenmananig, the Committee that headed the report and engagement sessions. Giganawenimaanaanig translates to “we all care about them.”
“In the last five years alone, 104 2SLGBTQQIA+ Indigenous women, girls and relatives have been murdered in Manitoba. This number is already equal to the total number of our loved ones lost over the entire previous decade,” DeLaronde wrote.
“This is a crisis that requires coordinated and urgent action.”
The Dress Red Act is needed to establish clear protocols and processes, ensure accountability at all levels, and facilitate cross-jurisdictional cooperation and coordination while preserving autonomy, the report says.
Alert will allow the rapid mobilization of police, government agencies, service organizations and the public during critical hours after A An indigenous woman, girl, two-spirited or heterosexual person disappears.
It will also send notifications to people's mobile phones, similar to how Amber Alert works.
The report highlights the “extreme urgency” of establishing an effective notification system, and Giganawenimaanaanig is now calling on all three tiers of government to launch the program no later than June 2026.
More than a warning
However, the report says the red dress system should be more than just a warning. It must play an integral role in comprehensive, holistic and coordinated responses that are culturally safe and trauma-informed.
It must provide 24-hour support to families, survivors and communities, including emotional, crisis and mental health services, financial assistance and long-term support and healing resources.
He should reach out to organizations and service providers who may have had contact with the missing person, targeting the communities, areas and organizations most likely to have information about the missing person.
Not everyone has a mobile phone or internet access, especially in northern communities, so a wide range of media and technologies must be used to disseminate information, the report says.
“The use of indigenous languages is also critical,” the report says.
Often communities must use their own limited resources to conduct searches and rely on grassroots networks and volunteers in the absence of adequate institutional support.
Partnership between Canada and Manitoba for The Red Dress Alert pilot program was announced in May 2024.after Member of Parliament of Manitoba Liya Gazan put forward a proposal in parliament in the previous year to finance the warning system.
Ghazan's proposal follows a Statistics Canada report that found the homicide rate among Indigenous women and girls is six times higher than their non-Indigenous counterparts.
Report for 2019 from national inquiry missing and murdered indigenous women and girls reported they are 12 times more likely to go missing or be killed.
The Red Dress Alert project team was created in December 2024 and headed by Giganavenimaanaanig. From January to October 2025, 43 public engagement sessions were conducted in rural and urban communities through Manitoba.
Participants included families of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and people, people from the 2SLGBTQ+ community, representatives of Indigenous organizations and governments, public works agencies, police and provincial government agencies and others organizations identified as important partners, such as child and family services, hospitality and transportation partners, and experts on sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
A public poll for those who cannot attend engagement meetings also collected more than 1,000 responses.
Sagking First Nation has the highest rate of missing and murdered women, girls and 2SLGBTQ+ people per capita in Canada, according to Chief EJ Fontaine.
“This is having a deep, deep impact on our community, and we are struggling every day to get out of this crisis,” he said. According to him, the list of missing people includes men and boys.
One of the missing was 15-year-old Tina Fontaine. She was in Winnipeg when she disappeared in July 2014 and her body, wrapped in a blanket and weighed down by rocks, was pulled from the Red River the following month.
“The grandmother, Thelma Favel, tried very hard to get help while Tina was in town,” said Marilyn Courchaine, a former Sagking council member and Favel's friend.
Courchaine said Favel called various authorities, including the police.
“They kept hanging up and saying, 'She's not ours, she's not our problem.'
Sagking, located 90 km northeast of Winnipeg, held its first engagement session in January due to its importance to the MMIWG.
“We need a system that acts quickly, respects our culture and supports families, not just warns. So this comprehensive, holistic red dress alert system is a big, big step,” said Chief Fontaine, surrounded by women holding photographs of missing people.
“It’s more than a warning system—it’s a safety system.”
“Arbitrary delays”
A common refrain among respondents at the meetings was a reluctance to contact police when a loved one may be in danger because authorities are “not perceived as trustworthy or culturally competent,” the report said.
People spoke of traumatic experiences navigating systems and resources while police routinely told people they had to wait 24 to 48 hours before filing a missing person report, even though that was not actually policy, the report said.
“Alerts should be issued without undue delay” and use a variety of communication systems—radio, social media, interactive websites, posters and mobile apps—to ensure rapid and widespread dissemination, the report says.
The Red Dress Alert System will be the first point of contact to ensure missing persons reports are promptly and respectfully recorded and liaison with police is maintained.
Winnipeg Police Chief Jean Bowers called the release of the report “an important milestone towards our shared goal of ensuring the safety of all women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ First Nations people in Manitoba.”
He acknowledged that relations between police and Indigenous communities have been strained at times, “and marked by harm and mistrust,” and said he believed the red dress warning would address gaps in the current MMIWG system.
“I support the final report's key findings through community engagement and commit to working together on the path to reconciliation. We will continue to take action to restore relationships and culturally appropriate cooperation,” he said.
Bye It works states that its role in this process is now complete and also states that The organization that is ultimately responsible for the alert system must manage, monitor and control its own data system and have ongoing government funding, otherwise it will not work.
“It’s really important that we take control of this data and use it to develop systems that work for us,” Fontaine said.
While the system was developed in Manitoba and designed to address the specific needs and concerns of Manitoba communities, it will create an important “model to encourage the development of similar systems across Canada,” the report says.
