Rallies countrywide marked the 10th anniversary of what is known as the Sisters in Spirit March, a national day of remembrance for the Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The red dresses were featured across Canada at rallies, as well as displayed on front lawns, trees and fences on Sunday, to honour and represent Indigenous women who are gone, but not forgotten.

A Winnipeg-based Metis artist is asking Canadians to take part in a powerful, one-day display of red dresses to represent the country's missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Jaime Black created The REDress Project five years ago, describing it as an "aesthetic response" to the issue of violence against Indigenous women.

Calls for a national inquiry on murdered and missing indigenous women have been growing since the RCMP revealed last year that nearly 1,200 Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing in Canada in the last 30 years.

On Sunday, Black is hoping to draw even more attention to the issue by opening up her project to the public. She is inviting Canadians to display their own red dresses to signal their support of Indigenous women. The striking, one-day display of red dresses will coincide with the National Day of Vigils to Remember Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.

"I’m really hoping that the public can support Indigenous women by displaying a red dress in their home or business, or coming together as a community and displaying red dresses in other public places," Black said.

Asked why she chose the colour red, Black said it is a "very important sacred colour" -- not only for her, personally, but for many other Indigenous groups across Canada as well.

Black said a friend of hers, who is also Indigenous, explained that red was the only colour sprits could see. "So (red) is really a calling back of the spirits of these women and allowing them a chance to be among us and have their voices heard through their family members and community," she said. Black said she hopes her project will inspire local organizations to launch similar projects in the future.

“I'm hoping that community groups will take on and start doing public installations and using that as a tool to have the public have more of an understanding of missing and murdered women.”

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