The annual National Day of Action for the Moose Hide Campaign, which takes a stand against violence towards women, children and all those along the gender continuum, was held May 14. This year, it had a distinctly different feel.
That’s because for the first time in its 15-year history, the national ceremony for the Indigenous-led grassroots movement was held in Toronto. In all previous years the main ceremony for the campaign’s National Day of Action was staged in Victoria, B.C.
Organizers felt the move to Toronto, Ontario’s capital and Canada’s most populous city, signifies the Moose Hide Campaign’s growth into a national movement of healing and accountability.
Paul Lacerte, who co-founded the Moose Hide Campaign in 2011 with his daughter Raven, attended the Toronto ceremony, held at the Royal Ontario Museum.
“I have a difficult message to share today,” Lacerte said. “And I will do my best to share it in a good way. The violence against Indigenous and non-Indigenous women and children in this country is unacceptable. It is a shocking, urgent crisis. And it is not a recent phenomenon. It has been going on for generations. There is a mountain of accumulated pain and trauma.”
Lacerte said the Native Women’s Association of Canada reports there are about 4,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women across the country.
“There are so many secrets,” Lacerte said. “And there has been so much harm. And it has primarily been men that have perpetrated intimate partner violence and gender-based violence. So, it is our responsibility as men to take action to end that violence.”
Lacerte, a member of Nadleh Whut’en First Nation in B.C., stressed that males should be leading the call for change.
“When we founded the Moose Hide Campaign, we knew it was important to specifically call in men and boys,” he said. “And we have a lot of work to do. And it’s hard work. As men, we don’t always know what to do or what to say when this topic comes up. Many of us men have experienced our own early childhood trauma in the form of physical abuse, emotional abuse, or sexual abuse.
“For some, that abuse has become intergenerational, meaning that some men commit the same harmful acts against the women and children in their life that they experienced or witnessed when they were young. Many men in this country carry deep shame or embarrassment for things we have said or done in the past or for the things that we are saying and doing today.”
While the Toronto ceremony was the flagship event of the Moose Hide Campaign this year, hundreds of satellite events were staged in schools and workplaces across the country. The Toronto event was also livestreamed nationally.
Raven Lacerte, a member of Lake Babine First Nation in B.C., videotaped a message that was played.
“My heart is full of love and hope,” she said. “There are over 350,000 people that have joined us from communities across Canada today to take a stand against violence towards women and children. Over 350,000. When my dad and I started this whole campaign in 2011, there were just two of us.”
Raven Lacerte recalled how much the campaign’s National Day of Action has grown.
“At the very first Moose Hide Campaign day in 2011, there were just 20 people, mostly men, that marched to the BC legislature to stand up against violence and pledge to take action,” she said. “Today, there are marches and events taking place in communities all across the country. And they are uniting us as Canadians.
“Young and old, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, government officials, corporations and non-profit societies, K-12 students and post-secondary students, men, women and all those along the gender continuum. This movement is growing. And we are making real change.”
Raven also said that violence comes in varying forms and it can happen to anyone.
“The effects that it can have on an individual, a family, or a community can be devastating,” she said. “Violence thrives in the shadows and we are here to shine a light on it. We are here to say that violence is not okay. It is not love. And it is not welcome in this great country.”
To promote its campaign, Moose Hide organizers have distributed more than 800,000 pins during the past 15 years. Each moose hide square-shaped pin comes with an informational brochure.
“Each square starts an average of five conversations. So, together, we have started over 40 million conversations about the need to end violence against women, children and those along the gender continuum,” said Raven.
“We need to change the trajectory of our society. We need to transform the attitudes in our society towards women, towards Indigenous women and towards everyone along the gender continuum. We need a better future than the path that we’ve had, to build a country where women and children are free from violence and treated with dignity and respect.”
A rally to end violence was also held at Queen’s Park.
More information on the Moose Hide Campaign is available at https://moosehidecampaign.ca/
