Event organizer Chelsea Morn (right) leads the procession. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Raising awareness

Prince Albert participates in Moose Hide Campaign

May 15, 2025 | 3:00 PM

Donning bright pink shirts, over two dozen women, children and men walked from Prince Albert’s riverbank to Kinsmen Park.

Thursday’s Moose Hide Campaign event marked one of many happening across the country to raise awareness about increasing rates of violence against women and children and to encourage change. Local organizer Chelsea Morin is a post-secondary student studying social work and is also a survivor of domestic violence.

“I lived a really tough life with my ex-husband and it affected my family and my children, and that’s why I’m hosting this to put it out there that women don’t deserve to be disrespected and hurt and in pain,” she said.

Morin added her wish to inspire women that they are not alone, that there is help out there.

The campaign idea started in 2011, when father and daughter Paul and Raven Lacerte were hunting moose along the Highway of Tears in northern B.C. Hunting moose is a grounding tradition on their ancestral land that passes knowledge from one generation to the other. The gift of the moose hide is seen as healing medicine that connects all who wear the pins to the land, culture and to each other.

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Chelsea Morin was pleased with the turnout. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

Speaking on behalf of Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC) was Executive Director Al Ducharme, who said he liked the idea that a moose hide can be used as such a powerful symbol and noted the importance of the grand animal in the north.

“It’s beautiful, accepted, but also is a provider of food for the soul, for the body, for the mind and emotion,” he explained.

Ducharme added the moose represents a way of life that exists in the north, and that way of life should be trouble-free. Acknowledging there are too many women who wake up in fear, Ducharme encouraged all men to help create change.

“We need to be at that front line, finding a way to change that. We can’t be the ones that are responsible for the fear is somebody else’s life. We can’t do that. 
We have to find a way to change that story because that story is not right.”

(Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

Anita Parenteau, Chair of the Prince Albert Grand Council Women’s Commission, noted she too is a survivor of domestic violence and said there is a need for more programming for men to learn how to treat our women. She also stated change needs to start with the children.

“We need to teach them that when we first came into this world, there’s love, there’s kinship, there’s respect, humbleness, all those teachings that we were given [a] long time ago before residential school started, and that’s where this all comes from is residential school,” she said.

PAGC Health Director Shirley Woods hopes these conversations can lead to change, adding that violence impacts all cultures and economic groups.

“Unfortunately, Indigenous women and children do experience more than non-indigenous women. Statistics show that spousal violence of Indigenous women is three times higher than non- indigenous women, and that Indigenous women are killed at six times the rate of non indigenous. These rates may be even higher today, as we’re seeing much higher rates of drug use within our communities.”

Kim Jonathan, Director of Indigenous Relations with the Prince Albert YWCA, thanked the women and men who worked together to keep our nations, our communities safe.

“I came from a place of violence, a sexual assault of rape from someone that should have been able to protect me in my home. And that was really difficult to persevere from the age of three onwards, but someone told me I had a voice that I mattered. My Cookum, my aunts, my uncles, and they told me that I had a voice and that I mattered too.”

(Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

With experience speaking at the United Nations and at both the provincial and federal levels, Jonathan said she believes nationhood building begins in the home.

“I have one son, and I’ve dedicated every moment that I could in all of my imperfections, because I’ve made mistakes too, we all do, that there is going to be a home fire when he goes out and has a family and he knows he has a voice and he has a respectful voice and he has a respectful role to also be show his family, his children, and all the little boys and girls and that he comes across, that he has a role to be that safe place.”

Before closing prayer, Elder Priscilla noted there were good speakers, good words shared, but added now it’s time for action.

The event was held at the MMIWG monument. The PAGC annual walk will be on July 11. (Nigel Maxwell/paNOW Staff)

On Thursday, Members of the Legislative Assembly, along with Saskatchewan public service employees, wore moose hide pins to observe the annual Moose Hide Campaign.

“Throughout Canada, moose hide has become a symbol of taking a stand against violence,” Minister Responsible for First Nations, Métis and Northern Affairs Eric Schmalz said. “By wearing the moose hide pin, we not only demonstrate our stand against violence but our public commitment to end it and protect our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.”

“The Moose Hide Campaign stands as a commitment to honour the women and children in our lives,” Minister Responsible for the Status of Women Alana Ross said. “Together, through awareness, education and action, we can create a future free from violence – a future where women, girls and all Saskatchewan people are safe, healthy and prosperous.”

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

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