Much respect to Patience Faith Summers Link – a strong and proud community woman of the Guugu Yimithirr, Yindjibarndi and Pentekos Island people and respected sister at ResearchCrowd – for her quiet, dignfied and graceful showing of ‘Red Tipi’ dress to an international grassroots gathering in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia in April 2024, hosted by Black Cloth Creed.
Red Tipi was created by Linda Kay Peters (Kaysaywaysemat). Linda, who is a woman from the Cree and Ojibway tribes, British Columbia, Canada, created Red Tipi to help raise awareness for MMIWG – Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.
Linda, a seamstress, activist and creative advocate for social change, explained:
Tipi have been traditionally used for housing and ceremonies, and represent culture. Indigenous communities in Canada wear red dresses to call the spirits of missing and murdered women. The figures on Red Tipi symbolise those who have disappeared and never returned. The mask covering the face with red hand imprint symbolises the tragic reality that the MMIWG no longer have a voice.
Linda went on to share with us her heartrending inspiration behind Red Tipi:
I first created the dress because I wanted to give my mother and my niece a voice. My mother was a victim of an attempted murder. And, my niece, who disappeared, was found four months later, deceased, on the banks of a river. I chose Patience to wear Red Tipi because I sensed something in her.
This is some of what Patience felt, and shared with us on the day:
I feel so honoured to wear the Red Tipi -spiritually uplifted, powerful and sad. I could have been one of those missing and murdered women 17 years ago. In the Tipi, that’s how I felt that night in the river – closed in my skin, in the arms of a tree, where I hid. That helped keep me safe. I just cried in the dress. I can’t believe the power of this moment.
MMIWG is growing in Australia, as is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR), also known as Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP). If you would like the opportunity to connect with Linda and/or Patience, please reach out to us at researchcrowd.
It’s hard to believe that, in 2024, two decades have passed since we first began looking into missing persons – read our 2004 report to learn more, Young Aboriginal Females Reported Missing to Police.
Access the report at Parliament of Australia [Document 6]. at https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/FirstNationswomenchildren/Additional_Documents