Only 18% of Canadians are familiar enough with Red Dress Day, honouring the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, to know what it stands for.
As a part of INNOVATIVE’s annual deep dive into Indigenous issues in Canada, which you can read here, we took a specific look at Canadians’ attitudes on violence against Indigenous women. The results were mixed – despite most Canadians (56%) thinking Indigenous women are more at risk of violence than women in general.
These results come from an online poll conducted between May 23rd and June 1st, 2025, of 1927 Canadian citizens, 18 years or older. This survey was sponsored by INNOVATIVE Research Group Inc. and weighted to n=1,250 based on age, gender, region, education, and self-reported past federal vote to ensure the overall sample reflects the population according to Census data.
A majority of every political party’s supporters believe that Indigenous women are more at risk of violence than women in general, ranging from 53% among Conservative supporters to 73% among NDP supporters. There is also supermajority support for spending at least as much as the government does now on protecting Indigenous women from violence. 43% believe we should spend more, and 35% say we should spend about the same.
Violence against Indigenous women is not perceived as a top-priority issue, however. Only 1% of respondents mention missing and murdered women as the most important Indigenous issue. Only 18% claim to be familiar enough with Red Dress Day, which honors the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women, to be able to explain what it is to others.
This points to the important role that an awareness event like Red Dress Day, created in 2010, can play. Clearly there is a strong consensus around public concern, and considerable public support for efforts to address the issue of violence against Indigenous women. What is lacking is public attention – and in that regard, Red Dress Day can fill a critical need in increasing the issue’s profile.
