The Moose Hide Campaign is coming to 100 Mile House for the first time on Thursday, May 15.
Hosted at the Caribo Family Enrichment Centre, this inaugural event calls upon the community to take action to end violence against women and children. Tammy Mikkelsen, the CFEC's administrative professional, is organizing the event and noted she's been wanting to do this for the last two years.
"This is the first annual event to raise awareness for violence against women and children and gender based violence," Mikkelsen said. "100 Mile House is a centre of the Cariboo and Highway 97, you can't really get to Alaska without coming through here. I think it's important because we have a lot of men and boys that it would be great to raise awareness about just to be mindful of how we treat our people. Not just about women and children, it's about men too, I think."
The Moose Hide Campaign got its start 10 years ago while Nadleh Whuten Band members Paul Lacerte and his daughter Raven Lacerte were hunting moose near the Highway of Tears in Northern B.C. The Highway of Tears is the stretch of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert where a high number of girls and women, many of them Indigenous, have gone missing or been found murdered over the last 50 years.
During this trip, the Lacretes were inspired, Mikkelsen said, to do something about the tragedies that occur along the highways. As they harvested a moose, the two decided to found what would become the Moose Hide Campaign. They created pins from the hide of the moose, which represent an individual's commitment to honour, respect, and protect the women and children in their life and speak out against gender-based and domestic violence. Since its founding, the project has given out over five million moose hide pins across Canada.
"The big event is usually in Victoria and their thing is that every pin can (start) five conversations about it. The more pins that get out, the more conversations happen, so it raises awareness (of the issue)," Mikkelsen said. "I've been ordering the pins for two years. It came across my computer, and I kind of learned about it a little bit more. I was like 'this would be a good event to have in 100 Mile'."
Mikkelsen said she chose to go forward this year because of the support she's received from the CFEC and the women behind 100 Mile House's International Women's Day Celebration. She noted that they plan to continue to support the introduction and reintroduction of community events throughout 100 Mile House.
The event itself will take place on May 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Raven Youth Centre, with Mikkelsen noting there will be some traditional drumming done by members of the Tsq̓éscen̓ First Nation. During the first hour, she said there will be information shared on the cause and the pins will be distributed. At noon, they'll watch a live stream from the main event in Victoria.
At 1 p.m. Mikkelsen said attendees will then walk from the CFEC to the 100 Mile Marsh and walk along the highway to the tunnel and return to the CFEC. Participants will be invited to carry handmade signs to raise awareness amongst passersby about the cause.
Mikkelsen said that anyone with any questions about the event can contact her by calling the CFEC at 250-395-5155.
