Moose Hide Campaign march in Halifax aims to combat gender-based violence

Moose Hide Campaign Day in Halifax, 2025.

Thursday marks Moose Hide Campaign Day, an Indigenous-led initiative to end gender-based violence.

Supporters and advocates will participate in walks across the country, including one in Halifax at noon led by Jacqueline Ouellet.

It’s the third annual walk of its kind in the municipality.

Ouellet says the campaign aims “to teach your children the right way to treat your sister, your mother, your auntie, to learn how to not be abusive in relationships.”

Provinces across Canada have labelled these kinds of violence as an epidemic in recent years. In Nova Scotia, intimate partner violence was declared an epidemic in 2024. In New Brunswick, gender-based violence was declared an epidemic in 2025.

“Gender-based violence, in Nova Scotia especially, is an epidemic. We don’t need statistics anymore, what we need is action,” says Ouellet to CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett.

The rates of gender-based violence are even higher for women and Two-Spirit individuals in Indigenous communities.

According to the Government of Canada, Indigenous women account for five per cent of all women in Canada, but they made up about 26 per cent of all women killed by an intimate partner in 2022.

Ouellet says the Moose Hide Campaign addresses the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

“My goal is to have, across Nova Scotia, to have all First Nation communities and organizations participate on this day,” she says, noting all are welcome in the Moose Hide Campaign.

“We want to bring it into our community because we want to start the healing process. We want reconciliation. But it’s open to everybody.”

The walk is set for noon at the Grand Parade, rain or shine. Organizers have planned a flag raising with Mayor Andy Fillmore and hand drummers to perform.

They aim to walk along Argyle, Sackville, Barrington and Salter streets, down the waterfront, then up George Street and back to the Grand Parade.

A significant part of the campaign involves a moose hide pin to demonstrate support. The one Ouellet wears she beaded herself.

“The pin is to start conversation and to show that you’re a safe place,” she says. “We have to start stepping in, we have to start taking action. We can’t say ‘that’s none of my business’ anymore.

“So, wearing this pin shows that you’re a safe space and that you believe that you can be the medicine that’s needed to start the change and take action instead of making this an epidemic. Let’s do it now.”

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