Each Red Dress Day pin and earring takes Mercer a minimum of 1.5 hours to bead by hand.--NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
A local business owner is hoping to support Indigenous students while raising awareness of the violence still perpetrated against Indigenous women and calling for ‘reconcili-action.’
Brenda Mercer, owner of online retail store White Horse Rider Co., is raising money to establish a new scholarship for Indigenous students at Medicine Hat College through sale of hand-beaded Red Dress Day jewelry.
A skilled beader with more than 50 years experience, Mercer began crafting the jewelry items several years ago to help raise awareness of Red Dress Day and the message behind it.
Held annually on May 5, Red Dress Day is a day to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people; recognize the disproportionate levels of violence Indigenous people in Canada continue to face; and inspire action to eliminate such violence.
But as Mercer worked to craft the items, she pondered the core messages of Red Dress Day and decided to expand the scope of her contributions.
“I thought, ‘You know, this would be a really good time to help an Indigenous person go to school,'” Mercer told the News. “So, I want to start a scholarship. I think that is really important because a lot of Indigenous people find it hard to go to school.”
Mercer highlighted that many Indigenous students face additional challenges in accessing higher education than their non-Indigenous counterparts, including racism and discrimination, financial barriers and cultural and pedagogical variances.
Mercer’s goal is to establish an annual scholarship worth $1,000, all of which would be funded through sale of her Red Dress Day jewelry items.
There are three styles of jewelry Mercer is currently selling, all of which resemble a red dress: a one-inch pin retailing for $35, a two and three-quarter inch pair of earrings for $60 and a three and one-quarter inch pair of earrings for $70. All proceeds will go toward the scholarship.
While Mercer only launched this initiative last week, she has already received ample support from the community.
“When I first posted (about) it, within the first hour, I had 20 orders from people,” said Mercer.
As well as helping to support the scholarship initiative, Mercer is glad to see both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members embracing the red dress symbol and drawing awareness to the issue.
“I have a couple of friends in the city here who have lost loved ones,” she said. “So, I feel a sense of pride and that we’re remembering.
“And I feel like (non-Indigenous community members) wearing these coming out to events that we host in the city is ‘reconcili-action,’ because reconcili-action is people actually doing things. And, I think, that’s where we need to head in the future.”
Mercer’s Red Dress Day pins and earrings are available for purchase on White Horse Rider Co.’s Etsy page or can be ordered by emailing whitehorserider2021@gmail.com.
