Raven Lacerte: ‘There is hope. But also so much work left to do’ 

 

Raven Lacerte won the Emerging Leading Award at the Annual Testimonial Dinner Honour Roll 2024. Lacerte is co-founder of the Moose Hide Campaign, a national movement that distributes symbolic pieces of moose hide, challenging men, boys and all Canadians to end violence against women.

Here is her moving acceptance speech:

(Lacerte begins her speech speaking in Carrier)

What I said in my Carrier language is, “Hello, my respected relatives.”  

My name is Raven Lacerte. My mum is the late Loretta Madam, and my dad is Paul Lacerte. I’m part of the Bear Clan and I come from the Carrier territory in north central B.C. I’m a mum; I’ve got two little girls — Cedar, who is five, and Chas, who is two. 

I want to acknowledge the territories that we are gathered on this evening, the land of many nations, including the Mississauga, the New Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. And thank the elder for the welcome today.  

I am so deeply humbled and honoured to receive this award. And I want to raise my hands in gratitude to the Public Policy Forum for this incredible honour.  

I’m here because I believe in this country. And I think that is why many of you are here as well. But I also believe that we will never truly reach our true potential until we end violence against women and children. That is my vision; that is my “why.” And I think that’s the reason why I’m standing here this evening.  

I’m the co founder of the Moose Hide Campaign. My dad and I started Moose Hide Campaign together in 2011 when I was 16 years old. We were hunting a moose along the Highway of Tears where many women have been murdered or have gone missing. We were blessed with a moose one morning and decided we were going to take action.  

So, we tanned that moose hide and started a movement. My sisters and I cut up the first 25,000 squares of moose hide, and we handwrote on these little index cards about what we were trying to do and we said that if you wear this then you promise never to do violence towards women and children. And you also promise to speak out and take action to end that violence.  

And it started to grow right away. Canadians were really ready for this kind of medicine. This is a national epidemic. And Canadians are looking for ways to affect change. So, there was a big demand right from the start.  

From 2011 to today, we have gifted out six million squares of moose hide.  

2024 Testimonial Dinner Honour Roll live blog 

There is a moose hide pin at each of your seats that you are welcome to put on and to wear. Each square starts, on average, five conversations. So, we have started over 30 million conversations about ending violence towards women and children.  

And so, if you don’t mind, I’m going to actually quickly just count how many of you are wearing the pins so I can add those numbers to our stats. Just kidding. 

Each year, we hold a day of ceremony and a day of action called Moose Hide Campaign Day. This year it will be on May 16. We invite all Canadians to fast for the day from sunup till sundown. We host it in Victoria and we broadcast it across the nation so everyone can join. Last year we had over half a million Canadians join us for the day and over 50,000 of those people fasted. Please join us this year on May 16, and please consider fasting on the day.  

Our vision is that one day 1 million Canadians will fast together to end violence against women and children. I believe that if we fast, that our ancestors smile on us.  

We’ve also launched recently an online training course called We Are Medicine. Please consider taking that training and share it with your colleagues, your families and your friends.  

When we first started this work, my dad was thinking about me and my sisters because as a dad he really wanted to do everything he could to make sure that my sisters and I had a chance to live a life free of violence.  

And as soon as I became a mum myself, I understood it on a whole different level. I will do anything to keep my babies safe from violence. And I know that each of you would, too.  

Over the past 13 years of doing this work, trying to spread this medicine across Canada, to create spaces where we can talk about this important issue, where Canadians can see that each of us have a role to play in this, to make that change that we so desperately need.  

And it can be exhausting on my heart and my spirit to hear so many stories of the people who are impacted by this issue. But the thing is that I also get to hear the stories of impact. I hear that people feel seen, they feel heard, respected, that there is hope and that they matter.  

I share this because I want you to know that there is so much hope. But there’s also so much work left to do.  

And each of you in this room are in such a unique space to be able to invite and encourage your families, your organizations, your spheres of influence to be part of this medicine, to order moose hide pins, to join us on Moose Hide Campaign Day, to take the training, and to join us on this journey to take a stand and end gender-based violence.  

So, if you’re ready to take a stand against violence towards women and children, then I’m asking you in this room to please, if you are able, to please stand.  

I am standing up for my daughters, Cedar Sus and Chas Yaz. Who are you standing up for? I want to invite you to share the name with somebody near you of who you are standing up for now.  

Thank you. 

So, I just want to end by raising my hands to each of you and send my love to you all. I’m so grateful for this award and for an opportunity to stand before you all and share a little bit of my story with you today. Thank you so much. Mussih cho. 

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Hear from more PPF honourees:

• Former astronaut and cabinet minister Marc Garneau talked about serving his country and the clarifying force of ‘a rocket about to unleash seven million pounds of thrust.’
• Hyman Solomon Award honouree Paul Wells spoke on the importance of journalism: ‘When politicians go around us, are they doing it to get the truth to you by a shorter path?’
• Jayna Hefford described launching the wildly successful PWHL: ‘It’s not about hockey. It’s about changing society. We’re creating change for the next generation.’
• Murad Al-Katib pushed for a more ambitious Canada: ‘I want to scale businesses and I want the future to be there for our generations to come.’
• Janice Charette extolled the privilege of a life in public service: ‘We need to celebrate those that are actually in the arena.’
• JP Gladu explained how Indigenous nations are key to unlocking Canada’s potential: ‘The Canadian balance sheet is starting to shift. Which side of the ledger do you want to be on?’