Manitoba partners with federal government on Red Dress Alert for missing Indigenous women and girls

(CBC)Canada and Manitoba are partnering to launch an alert system that would inform the public when an Indigenous woman or girl goes missing, they announced Friday in Winnipeg, ahead of a national day to mark the crisis.

"In the lead-up to Red Dress Day, we keep those who have been stolen from their communities and this world in our thoughts, and we centre them in our action," said Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree.

NDP MP Leah Gazan, whose efforts on the file led a House of Commons committee to study the prospect for a national alert system, called the announcement a small but significant step.

Gazan's fellow MPs unanimously backed her motion in the House of Commons last year declaring the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls a Canada-wide emergency.

The national inquiry's 2019 final report found deliberate rights violations were at the heart of violence against Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse people.

With the final report came 231 calls to justice directed toward governments, social service providers, industry and Canadians, but relatively little progress has been made to date.