The Moose Hide Campaign is underway at Laurentian University this week as many made the promise to wear a moose hide pin. The campaign aims to end violence against women and children, including the Indigenous who have been disproportionately affected.
"It's to bring awareness and end violence against women and girls," said Susan Manitowabi, associate vice-president of academic and Indigenous programs.
"The Moose Hide Campaign is a pledge from men and boys to hold each other accountable and end violence in our society."
It was a solemn, poignant morning at the Sudbury university Feb. 25. Members of its Indigenous community and supporters heard personal stories as part of this year's Moose Hide Campaign.
Typically, the campaign doesn't start until May in Canada, but Laurentian holds it a little earlier every year in hopes of including the student population.
Laurentian's campaign is designed to act in conjunction with the Red Dress campaign, which has women speakers talk about the impacts of violence against women and brings awareness to the murdered and missing Indigenous women across Canada.
"This is a really good time for people to think about what's happening to women and children. Violence happens all over, specifically for Indigenous women and children because they've been victimized for so long, but when you think about violence, violence happens to a lot of people and I think this is an opportunity to bring awareness," said Manitowabi.
The Moose Hide event was held virtually. A sacred fire was lit in the wigwam and members of the public were also invited to come to pay respect to those who have lived with violence and those that were lost to it.
"Native women and children are murdered at a far higher, greater capacity than any other race in this country and I truly think that stems from a lack of education," said emcee Paskwa Lightning.
There were also a number of speakers including Laurentian University President Robert Haché.
"The Moose Hide Campaign serves an important need in our community of Greater Sudbury and all across Canada. Laurentian University is pleased to become a 'moose hide ambassador' campus this year, as we have been for the past five years," Haché said.
Adding the school is proud to share in the significance of such an important initiative and take its stand opposing violence against Indigenous women and children.
"It was created in response to the injustices and violence faced by women and children, particularly those who are Indigenous. This is why it's vital to our community because violence against women and children is a significant problem with profound impacts," Haché said.
According to the Canadian Women's Foundation, approximately every six days a woman is killed by her intimate partner in this country. Children who witness violence in their homes have twice the rate of developing a psychiatric disorder compared to those who live in non-violent homes.
The virtual event also heard from William Constant, an Elder who shared his personal story and work he is doing to help young people from proceeding down a violent path.
"When I think about this project, this 'moose hide campaign' and what the topic is today, trying to assist each other in becoming better men in relation to our women. My mother lost her life on the streets at the age of 51 in a little town where we grew up in northern Manitoba," said Constant.
He revealed she died violently and to this day, they still don't know who was responsible.
"When you talk about the violence against women, the murdered and missing aboriginal women, it really hits close to home for me because my own mother in 1971 lost her life," he said.
The Elder also shared how he hasn't consumed alcohol since 1976. After waking up from a week-long stint and hearing he had been violent, he decided that would be his last drink.
"For some people, it might create change in which they become consumed by it. They get very angry and they become violent, they're unable to process and step beyond that," Constant said.
The event also heard from Serpent River Chief Brent Bisaillon, one of Canada's youngest First Nation chiefs, on what the pledge meant to him.
As a queer, gay, two-spirited man, his perspective brought a unique lens to the issue with what he's seen over his life and experiences.
"These are generally seen as women's issues that some men help out with and I want to bring it back to men's issues. These issues that we're putting forth, that we continue to call gender violence, that they're only women's problems, that basically allows men not to pay attention to it," said Bisaillon.
"Men are rendered invisible in a lot of this discourse and it's primarily about them, and that's the important piece I really want to get to. Even when we see things in the news, like 'Sandra as a battered woman,' even our language and how we talk about that erases the man or woman in that case and violence happens on both genders."
He said we, as a people, can sometimes start to victim blame and talk about things like 'what was the individual wearing?' He's challenged those watching to see through media portrayals and a specific lens to get directly to the issue of violence is unacceptable by any means.
"We really need to start asking our men some questions, like why do they do this, why do they verbally abuse women? I want to open up the talk to how men abuse other men and we're abusing other young men in terms of teaching them how to hide themselves," said Bisaillon.
Moose Hide Campaign Day gets underway across Canada on May 12.
