Kayla McBee, a member of the Lower Nicola Indian Band, is completing her Master of Social Work degree at the University of the Fraser Valley. Working with Shirley Hardman as her advisor, Kayla chose to focus on the Moose Hide Campaign for her final major paper. In this excerpt from her paper, Kayla explores the origins of the campaign.
The Moose Hide Campaign
I became aware that it is well known (amongst Canadians) that Indigenous families experience more violence than any other racial group (Brunette, 2016, p. 354). I learned this, and then it became genuine to me after an interaction I had at work. I recall the day a supervisor of mine gave me some stacks of cards with a piece of moose hide attached to each card. She told me to hand them out to clients. After doing a little homework, I realized that this was an action put together by a group of Indigenous men and boys who had put a group together to take a stand against the violence towards Indigenous women. When I first learned this, I was impressed; this was unlike what the media and society portray about Indigenous males, boys and men who are coming together and taking responsibility for the harms against Indigenous women. Their collective goal is to put a stop to it.
As the founder of the Moose Hide Campaign, Paul Lecert and his daughter were driving along the “highway of tears ,” they had what turned out to be a great idea (moosehidecampaign.ca). They wanted to process some of the moose hides they had tanned and processed and cut them into small squares to start the campaign. The initiative soon turned into dedicated women who assisted with the processing and cutting of the hides, from local hunters and from road-kill on highways in order to produce the large number of squares produced today. Their original vision, as father and daughter, they could not have imagined, exploded and continues to promote a campaign denouncing the violence against Indigenous women. To date, over a million squares of authentic moose hide have been given out in the effort to stop the violence (moosehidecampaign.ca). Lastly, I would like to mention that there are vegan folks or those who do not agree with hunting who also want to participate in this campaign that are now also able to participate. There are now, nine years later, Naugahyde patches or synthetic patches available as well. The latest goal for the Moose Hide Campaign is to reach 10 million people wearing mini squares of Moose Hide (or vegan alternative) to signal across the country that violence against women must end.
It has been my experience that people change as they grow and have children of their own. This has caused me to pause and wonder, if Paul did not have his daughter Raven, would he have felt so strongly about the campaign? Paul and his daughter created an awareness that this insidious reality is happening. While I believe colonialism and loss of our culture are to blame, I imagine there will be disagreements from some about where and how the violence in Indigenous communities started. What is certain is that, if not before, then now, people in this country are very aware of the violence against Indigenous women. I am reminded in the work that I do: Indigenous families experience more violence than any other racial group.
The Moose Hide Campaign and the equally well-known Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Movement are examples of our Indigenous voices progressing to continue a forward effort of positive change. In order to create awareness and garner support in creating this change, it takes effort and diligence. The example of the Moosehide Campaign, of creating awareness through the use of traditional pieces of moose hide assists Indigenous people to continue to practice within our ancestral teachings (reclaiming) while remembering who we are, and where we come from. It also allows non-Indigenous people to stand with Indigenous people in shared knowledge and a shared goal. I cannot speak to whether or not the campaign was successful in curbing violence in Indigenous families. The purpose of my telling here is to speak to the success of creating awareness of the violence against Indigenous women happening in Indigenous communities.
Indigenous women are three times more likely to experience domestic violence than non-Indigenous women, and three times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be killed by someone they know. Too many of our wives, daughters, sisters, aunties, mothers, grandmothers are not safe in their own home. Too many have been murdered or are missing. It is time for us to change this.
This cycle of violence came from residential schools, racism against our Peoples, and colonization. It was never in our culture to do violence to the women and children in our families and communities. It was always our responsibility to protect them.
Many efforts, projects, and strategies are now under-way throughout the country to change this reality, but we can and need to do more. Silence is not good enough, and simply being a non-abuser is not good enough. We must speak up and take action, and we need to support each other as Indigenous and non-Indigenous men.
Quote from the Moose Hide Campaign website.
Kayla McBee
Lower Nicola Indian Band, MSW student, 2018-2021
End notes:
1. A stretch of highway in northern BC; highway 16 where between the years of 1986 and 2006, Nine Indigenous women have gone missing or were found murdered along the 724 km stretch of highway.
2. MMIW is a Canadian (and American) movement that works to publicly educate people about Indigenous (First Nation, Inuit and Metis) women and girls to raise awareness of this national crises and genocide through public marches, community meetings, band meetings, and training of professionals and para-professionals working in contact with Indigenous women and girls.