History:Drag the Red
Drag the Red is a volunteer grassroots organisation based in Winnipeg Manitoba. They search the Red River and its banks for the bodies of suicide deaths and missing persons, particularly Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The initiative started by Bernadette Smith and Kyle Kematch after the death of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old girl whose body was found in the Red River in 2014.
The organisation aims to address the high rates of Indigenous people, especially Indigenous women, who go missing and whose bodies are never found. Volunteers search the river in hopes of bringing the missing home to provide closure for the families. The initiative draws public attention to violence disproportionately levied against Indigenous women and the ongoing lack of effective institutional response.
“The work we’re doing with Drag the Red is a way to ensure that our loved ones aren’t forgotten. To let people know that these people are valued: they’re mothers, they’re daughters, sisters.” (Bernadette Smith quote).
Tina Fontaine - The Beginning
Drag the Red was founded after the death of Tina Fontaine, a young girl from Sagkeeng First Nations whose body was discovered in the Red River wrapped in a duvet cover. Fontaine had been raised by her great aunt but travelled to Winnipeg to find her biological mother. While in the city she became homeless and was forced onto the street.
In the days before her death, Fontaine experienced a series of institutional failures. She was picked up by a man in a truck who was stopped by the police and subsequently arrested for driving with a suspended licence. Fontaine, however, was neglected by the authorities and left on the street. Security cameras later captured her passed out in a parking lot. She eventually was taken to a hospital where she was found to malnourished and under the influence of alcohol and drugs. As a response she was dropped off at a crisis centre. However, they allowed her to leave shortly thereafter. Nine days later, Tina Fontaine was found in the Red River.
Community outcry emphasised the significant role of institutional negligence that led to Fontaine's death. Bernadette Smith mobilised people on social media, calling on the need to search the Red River:
"Our river needs to be dragged. How many other people have been murdered and put in there? There have been many bodies pulled from it. How much more evidence does our city need before they drag it, how many more bodies will be put in there. This violence needs to stop and the person/persons responsible brought to justice" (Smith, August 20 2014).
Founders and Key Actors
Drag the Red began as a group of about a dozen volunteers with a borrowed boat and a Facebook page. As of April 2025, they have expanded to roughly 3000 volunteers and around 60 active searchers.
The two cofounders - Bernadette Smith and Kyle Kematch - had known each other before starting Drag the Red. According to Bernadette Smith in an interview on CBC in 2021, after losing both of their sisters two years apart, "it created a bond between their families". Their dynamic is emblematic of community bonds as a result of frequent tragedy, which has brought many others to volunteer for Drag the Red.
Bernadette Smith
Bernadette Smith is one of the founders of Drag the Red. Her advocacy is connected to the disappearance of her sister Claudette Osbourne whose death drew attention to systemic bias in the treatment of missing Indigenous women in 2008, six years before Fontaine's case.
Smith was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in 2017, representing the electoral district of Point Douglas as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP).
Kyle Kematch
Kyle Kematch (1983-2021) co-founded Drag the Red with Smith. He lost his sister Amber Guiboche in 2010, whose case was also characterised by police negligence. He at one point left his job to dedicate himself to the search full time.
After his death in 2021, his daughter Kyrra Kematch continued participating in Drag the Red
Volunteers and Community Participation
The organisation is composed entirely of volunteers, many of whom have personal connections to missing individuals. The work is described by participants as emotionally and spiritually demanding but deeply meaningful. Volunteers voice an intense connection to the work, describing feeling compelled to continue dragging no matter how gruelling, hoping to find whatever they find.
In anticipation of the release of 'The River', a short documentary on Drag the Red, the National Film Board of Canada created an Instagram account "What Brings Us Here" to highlight the stories of volunteers:
- Katherine Vermette: Vermette directed and narrated the NFB documentary 'This River' about Drag the Red. She lost her brother whose body was found in the Red River. His case, like many, was impacted by police negligence.
- Alison Cox: Cox returned to Winnipeg to assist the searchers. Her mother was murdered when she was a baby.
- Melvin Pangman: Pangman began volunteering after losing his nephew to the river and receiving little assistance from the police during the search of his body.
- Aaron Stevens & Scott Osesky: Both Stevens and Osesky are primarily Bear Clan patrol volunteers, but closely help Drag the Red with their work. Both Indigenous-led organisations are focused on safety, healing, and justice. While Bear Clan protects the streets, Drag the Red brings the missing back home.
- “They say it's like you get some sort of chemical reaction when you give back.” (Stevens)
Methods and Operations
Drag the Red operates in the months of May to October when the Red River is thawed. They search for signs of human remains including clothing, hair, skin, bone fragments, and blood soaked items. When matter is recovered, volunteers report findings to police and post information on social media (mostly on Facebook) in hopes that families of missing persons may recognise them.
The organisation has helped recover three bodies - that of two men and a woman. More bodies have been recovered from the Red River by law enforcement since the organisation's beginnings in 2014 (Cecco). The founders have supported that by dragging and loosening debris, their work might have helped resurface bodies.
Drag the Red has two groups of volunteers:
River Draggers
Some drag the river almost daily in peak season. Using motorboats and canoes, these volunteers drop metal bars with hooks into the water, pulling them across the river until they snag objects.
Ground Crew
The majority of the volunteers conduct shoreline searches using detectors and manual digging.
Funding and Equipment
Most of the equipment they use is either hand-built or makeshift, reflecting limited resources.
Drag the Red receives no financial support from the Winnipeg municipal government or police services and relies heavily upon public donations and fundraising initiatives. Donations fund fuel, safety and search equipment, life jackets, and maintenance of boats and tools.
In June 2021, the organisation received a custom-made search boat funded by a $50,000 donation from the private-sector union Unifor and Indigenous liaison Gina Smoke. The vehicle was designed to drag heavy equipment along the river bottom and can pull up to 300 pounds.
Volunteers have also received guidance from professionals, including Emily Holland, an anthropology professor at Brandon university, who teaches volunteers how to properly identify human remains during shoreline searches.
Historical Context: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
"Indigenous women and girl's bodies historically have been the target of violence, not just to clear physical bodies from spaces desired from settlement, but also because of what said bodies represent; that is, relationships with the land, jurisdiction, processes of reproduction, kinship, and ultimately the difference from Western systems of law and governance" (Collier p. 779).
Drag the Red emerged from a reality of widespread violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada. A 2014 report following Fontaine's death by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) found that 1,181 Indigenous women were murdered or went missing between 1980 and 2012. Other sources, such as the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) have stated the number is closer to 4,000 when accounting for systemic data gaps.
Although Indigenous people represent approximately 4.3% of the Canadian population, Indigenous women account for 16% of homicide victims, making them six times more likely to be murdered than other women in Canada. In Manitoba, where Drag the Red operates, Indigenous people represent 13.6% of the population, but 49% of homicide victims are Indigenous women.
These patterns reflect broader colonial histories and systemic discrimination. Indigenous women's bodies have historically been targets of violence because they represent relationships with land, kinship, and Indigenous governance systems that challenge colonial authority.
Families and activists in and outside of Drag the Red have criticised law enforcement's responses, arguing that cases regarding Indigenous women are often dismissed or treated with less urgency, especially when victims are labelled as sex workers, criminals or addicts. Founder Bernadette Smith mentions how authorities used her sister Claudette Osbourne's mugshot in her missing poster, despite being provided other images.
Grassroots Justice
Drag the Red represents a grassroots response to institutional failures in policing and justice: "Policing protocols, legal and bureaucratic lingo, absence of information, and redacted documents keep families veiled from knowing or understanding what is going in investigations and are dependent on a system that is directly linked to an unacknowledged colonial logic and ongoing violence" (Chartrand p. 352). Grassroots approaches are largely attributed to communities losing trust and confidence in justice systems.
Police argue that dragging the river would be ineffective and that black-water diving in the Red River is extremely dangerous, and therefore, not worth the investment of resources and time. In response, communities organise their own search efforts. These initiatives take the form of community-based justice and decolonial activism, emphasising mutual support and collective care within Indigenous communities. Grassroots activism in this context also seeks to keep the stories of missing individuals alive, and connect families with community resources. Critics of existing investigative systems, policing protocols, and bureaucratic procedures argue that the processes often leave families without information or meaningful participation in investigations, in turn favouring Drag the Red's approach.
Influence and Relate Initiatives
"Reclaiming Power and Place" was the title of the final report of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women inquiry, reflecting the aim and purpose of Drag the Red alongside the art and initiatives the organisation has inspired.
This River Documentary
The National Film Board of Canada's documentary "This River", directed and narrated by Katherine Vermette, documents the work of Drag the Red volunteers.
Rise, Red River
The play "Rise, Red River" by Tara Beagon won the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama in 2025. It was inspired by the work of Drag the Red. The play is performed in Anishinaabemowin, English, and French, following a woman searching a river for the stories of her self, her loved ones, and her culture.
Related Initiatives
Drag the Red has inspired several initiatives focused on safety and advocacy, especially Indigenous-led activism and organisations in the Winnipeg area.
- CommUNITY 2024: CommUNITY 2024 is a twenty two person patrol team that is made up of many former and current members of Drag the Red. They also adopt a grass roots approach to water safety. They offer river patrol services, support, and safety to people living and playing near Winnipeg waterways. Their organisation is focused on supporting underserved youth and homeless populations. Volunteers are trained in harm reduction, water rescue, and paramedic training (Searle citation).
- Coalition for Families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women of Manitoba: This group, also made up of former and current members of Drag the Red, provide toolkits to help families navigate. media coverage, document communications with police, and organise search efforts. They also often collaborate with Drag the Red.
- Taken: "Taken" is a documentary tv series project that researches and presents cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Bernadette Smith, one of Drag the Red's co-founders, was a head researcher.
Symbolism of the Red River
The Red River holds historical significance in Winnipeg, where both Indigenous and European communities historically depended on it. Drag the Red's messaging emphasises the river's transformation from a vital lifeline to a polluted or neglected space that has since become associated with violence and disappearance.
Some scholars interpret the project as creating a symbolic dialogue between the Indigenous body and the river, highlighting the relationship between land, memory, and colonial violence.
References
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