Lacerte Family (left to right): Sage, Paul (father) and Raven

Sponsored by the Moose Hide Campaign

The Moose Hide Campaign was born from a hunting trip along British Columbia’s Highway of Tears, where so many Indigenous women have been murdered or gone missing.

Father and daughter Paul and Raven Lacerte were moose hunting in their Carrier Traditional Territory when it became powerfully clear to them: they needed to do something to help address the crisis of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

What began as a humble campaign of handing out small squares of the hunted moose hide with handwritten notes urging people to pin it to their clothes to show their commitment to ending gender-based violence has now grown into a nationwide movement.

The devastating truth in Canada is that one in three women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, and Indigenous women are sixteen times more likely to go murdered or missing than non-Indigenous women.

The moose hide pin is offered as a gift of medicine that grounds us and feeds our spirit on this collective healing journey. This year the campaign is on track to distribute its four millionth moose hide pin. Each pin has been proven to spark at least five conversations that bring this critical issue out of the darkness and into the light. That’s over 20 million conversations!

“Domestic and gender-based violence is completely preventable, and yet, it’s still happening every day,” says Raven Lacerte, co-founder of the Moose Hide Campaign. “Wearing the moose hide pin signifies your commitment to honour, respect and protect the women and children in your life and speak out against this kind of violence.”

The annual Moose Hide Campaign Day on May 11 brings Canadians together for a day of ceremony. The day involves grassroots events in many communities across Canada organized by local champions. If none are in your region, you can participate through the live stream originating from Victoria, British Columbia. The ceremony involves many speakers on the topic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People, including a keynote address by Brandi Morin who is an award-winning journalist who has written extensively about this critical issue.

Moose Hide Campaign Day also includes workshops, both live in Victoria and online for those who register ahead of the day. Individuals are also encouraged to participate in a fast from dawn to dusk as a means of testing and deepening their personal commitments to ending gender-based violence. There is also programming for youth from Kindergarten to Grade 12, including workshops like storytelling through song and dance.

Joining Moose Hide Campaign Day is a concrete step in our collective journey toward reconciliation. Together, we can take meaningful action to end violence against women, children and all those along the gender continuum in Canada.

Order a moose hide pin as a free gift of medicine at moosehidecampaign.ca.