A Square of Moose Hide

In 2011, on traditional Carrier territory in British Columbia, Paul Lacerte and his daughter Raven were hunting moose. She was 16.

They followed Highway 16, between Prince George and Prince Rupert. It is known as the "Highway of Tears." Many Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been killed along it.

Paul had just come back from a conference on violence against women, in Vancouver. In the room, there were hundreds of women. The men numbered four.

A question stayed with them: where are all the men?

After the hunt, Paul had an idea. He would use the moose hide to invite men to get involved.

With family and friends, he cut the first 2,500 small squares of hide. Each was fixed to a pin. It was worn on the lapel.

The gesture was simple. Wearing the square meant committing to honour, respect and protect women and children. And it was a way to start the conversation.

That is how the Moose Hide Campaign was born.

Today, Indigenous women make the squares. They are paid for the work. The hides come from traditional hunters or from animals killed on roads. No moose is hunted solely for the campaign.

The pins are free, anywhere in Canada, and so is shipping.

A small, visible gesture can open big conversations.

The movement grew quickly. Students at a school in Fraser Lake took up the "Ten Men Challenge" and fasted for a day. In 2018, British Columbia gave the movement $2 million. The province also proclaimed February 11 Moose Hide Campaign Day.

More than two million squares have already been distributed.

There is much left to do. According to Raven Lacerte, more than 4,000 Indigenous women and girls have been murdered or gone missing in Canada over 30 years. The movement now aims for ten million squares and a fast by one million people.

Anyone can order one, wear it, and talk about it.

Raven Lacerte explains what she was looking for from the start:

Women's safety is not women's business alone. It rests on a "we" where everyone, and especially every man, does their part.