April Parisian’s face on a banner at Ann Davis Transition Society’s Red Dress Day event on Friday (May 5) helped make the gathering sombre and more real.
Parisian went missing from her community of Spuzzum in April of 2020. Her boyfriend was found dead of a self-inflicted wound inside a vehicle belonging to her on a road between Chilliwack and Abbotsford a month later.
READ MORE: Hope MMIW Take Back Canada rally remembers April Parisian
A couple dozen people gathered in the parking lot at Ann Davis to create a sea of red to mark Red Dress Day and missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG).
There was guest speakers, drumming, a jingle dancer, an open mic, and a visual display on MMIWG.
One of those speakers was Dee Eashappie who is Parisian’s cousin and was visiting from Saskatchewan. Eashappie was moved to tears talking about how Parisian had become one of the MMIWG.
On April 21, 2020, five days after police located Parisian’s truck and camper with her dead booyfriend inside, an IHIT spokesperson stated they believed she “may have met with foul play.”
She has still not been found.
A banner held the information of where she was last seen, a description, and that anyone with information or tips is asked to contact the RCMP or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
Red Dress Day at Ann Davis was held in collaboration with MMIWG co-ordinator and cultural advisor/elder Dionne McGrath, Wilma’s Transition Society, and Pacific Community Resources Society.
RELATED: Indigenous domestic violence victim shares her story and her Red Dress Day display in Chilliwack
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