The Moose Hide Campaign is a grassroots movement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous men and boys who are standing up against violence towards women and children.Wearing this moose hide signifies your commitment to honour, respect, and protect the women and children in your life and to work together to end violence against women and children.The Moose Hide Campaign was co-founded by Raven and Paul Lacerte who live in Victoria. This Campaign has spread across Canada.
On October 11, the Executive of the Ascension CWL invited NDP MP Gord Johns to speak to our members on the Moose Hide Campaign. He explained he “has been a member since 2014 when MLA Scott Fraser introduced me by giving me a small square moose hide symbol.” He paid it forward by handing out a card and moose hide to each member of Parliament to remind them how critical the violence against indigenous and non-indigenous women is. He further explained indigenous women and girls are three times more likely to be assaulted and killed. In 2004, 54% of women came into this statistic. Child poverty and poor child care leads to these alarming statistics. Today 153,000 children in Canada live in poverty; 21% non-indigenous and 30% indigenous.
“Many efforts, projects, and strategies are now underway throughout the province to change this reality, but as men we can and need to do more,” says Paul Lacerte, Organizer and Executive Director of the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres. “We need to speak up and take positive action, and we need to support each other as Aboriginal men in our healing journey.”
The support of this campaign dovetails with the CWL’s National Campaign against Pornography and Human Trafficking. The cycle of violence can begin with the dehumanizing effect of pornography. This can manifest itself in violence at home or by family members and friends.
The many questions following the talk indicated a sincere interest in this topic. Our Youth Coordinator took the information, and will share it with our young parishioners (aged 13 – 17 years), and with their families. As she said, they are never too young to learn to respect themselves and others.
There was a gathering on Parliament Hill October 18, 2018 in which Gord Johns and other members of Parliament took part.
For a video and complete information contact: info@moosehidecampaign.ca)