Campaign encourages people to take a pledge against gender-based violence

The City of Edmonton and the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta hosted the Moose Hide Campaign Day event on Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Galen McDougall/CTV News Edmonton)

Edmontonians are being encouraged to take a pledge against gender-based violence.

The pledge is part of the Moose Hide Campaign, which asks men and boys to stand with women and children and speak out against violence toward them. 

The City of Edmonton and the Indigenous Sport Council of Alberta hosted the Moose Hide Campaign Day event Thursday afternoon at City Hall.

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The event featured drummers, speakers, dancing, singing, a ceremony and a community walk.

The campaign started in British Columbia in 2011 as an effort to end domestic violence. 

"The campaign is grounded in Indigenous ceremony and traditional ways of learning and healing," its website reads. "A cornerstone of the Moose Hide Campaign is the moose hide pin. Wearing the pin signifies your commitment to honour, respect, and protect the women and children in your life and speak out against gender-based and domestic violence."

In 2011, the founder, Paul Lacerte, and his daughter were hunting and brought down a moose near the Highway of Tears, where many women have gone missing or been murdered, according to the organization.

They used the hide from that moose to make the first of the campaign's pins.