This week, a group of runners led by Langley’s Nick Colyn, a Trinity Western University (TWU) alum, with TWU second-year Levi Osterwalder, will run a collective 725-kilometre stretch together, part of the Moose Hide campaign to honour the memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

It is the same distance as northern British Columbia’s Highway of Tears, between Prince George and Prince Rupert, where many women and girls have disappeared.

READ ALSO: Highway of Tears memorial totem pole to be raised in northern B.C.

“In having conversations about the Moose Hide Campaign, I was shocked how few people had ever heard of the Highway of Tears before,” said Colyn.

“That really pushed me towards finding a way we could collectively bring awareness to an initiative that emphasizes a very sad and devastating part of our provinces’ history. The idea to run the distance of the Highway of Tears was the first thing that came to mind, and it allows for others to easily come alongside and contribute to the initiative as well.”

Jeff Gamache, TWU irector of athletics, described his shock at learning of the “atrocities within the Indigenous communities that have happened on this 725 -kilometre stretch of road. Now is the time to learn and truly understand our history, and commit to end violence against women and children.”

Osterwalder described it as “not just an issue of the past, but one of the present and the future, and we need to do what we can with our platform to raise awareness for and support this important cause.”

READ ALSO: Moose hide message to men keeps growing

About the Moose Hide Campaign

On an early August morning in 2011, an Indigenous man named Paul Lacerte and his daughter Raven, were hunting moose near the infamous Highway of Tears, where dozens of women have gone missing or been found murdered. As Raven was skinning a moose, her father had the idea of using the moose hide to inspire men to become involved in the movement to end violence towards women and children.

Together with family and friends, they cut up the moose hide into small squares and started the Moose Hide Campaign.

Years later, more than 1 million squares of moose hide have been distributed and the Moose Hide Campaign has spread to communities and organizations across Canada.

Thursday Feb. 11, will mark Moose Hide Campaign Day, with a virtual live stream featuring a ceremony, keynote speakers and various workshops amongst other things.

To donate or learn more about the Moose Hide Campaign, click here

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