Unifor members discuss the fight for justice for MMIWG2S

May 8, 2025

To recognize Red Dress Day in 2025, Unifor members participated in an online workshop with Winnipeg researcher and activist Sandra Delaronde.

Delarond reviewed the ongoing campaign to document Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2-spirit people (MMIWG2S) at reddressstoriesmb.ca. During her presentation, she discussed the long history of disproportionate violence experience by Indigenous women and girls and the compounding factors of poverty and the resulting low health outcomes.

“Helen Betty Osbourne may not have been killed if she wasn’t Indigenous, but she also never received justice because she was Indigenous,” said Delaronde of a woman kidnapped and murdered in The Pas, Manitoba in 1971, explaining that law enforcement has historically been slow to investigate Indigenous missing persons, if they responded at all.

Delaronde said that the labour movement has a critical role to play in working with Indigenous communities to fight for justice and eliminate high risk conditions that threaten vulnerable peoples. One example is reviewing and improving the conditions at remote work camps at resource extraction sites, which are often deep inside Indigenous territories.

During the question and answer period, members and Delaronde discussed other opportunities to join the fight for justice for MMIWG. Appropriate donation protocols, lobbying, and workplace audits were all mentioned as considerations for activism.

Unifor Director of Indigenous Relations Gina Smoke thanked Delaronde on behalf of the union and says that the webinar will help guide future action: “This work is difficult but it’s the right thing to do. Unifor members are engaged in the struggle for justice in communities from coast-to-coast, and it was a great experience to have a discussion with Sandra about new ways to plug-in to the fight.”

Media Contact
Ian Boyko
National Communications Representative – Western Region
Email
Ian.Boyko@unifor.org

NT5