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Sing-along Café and Moose Hide Campaign Day Thursday, May 14th, 2026

Our regular Sing-along Café was incoporated into the Moose Hide Campaign Day event today. 

From 2-3 we had a sing-along time. It wasn't easy to find songs that people could sing along with, songs that we might know. There is a lot of music being made, but we don't get to hear it much. I found a few things that we knew, and included a couple songs from my diversity/equality and resistance/revolution- themed playlists. I'll list them below with comments.

The Moose Hide Campaign Day of Ceremony was an all-day remote-live-streamed and in-person event all across Canada. Many events like ours were held and included walking, fasting, demonstrating, and also just watching. This was the first time it was centred in Toronto. It started with a sunrise ceremony and ended with a sunset fast-breaking ceremony. Those were in Atlantic time, so, very early for us: 4 am for the start and 6/7:00 end in Eastern time.  Although I registered for the whole day, I only started my participation at 9 am with the Plenary address. It was excellent. I fasted, but sipped water a few times. It felt good.

At 11:30, I was set up in the Fellowship Room ready to watch the Rally at Queen's Park which was supposed to start at noon. Theresa and I watched a little bit of the Plenary together, and slowly more people gathered, and slowly the live-stream in the city started working. In all, 8 of us participated in the day, with one person I know who participated on her own. What we saw and heard (on and off) together was excellent, informative, and inspiring. The plenary and workshop were outstanding but the rally and the fast-breaking ceremony were disappointing because of technical issues. They weren't able to manage their cameras and sound system. So sad. I hope that there are recordings so that they can fix the videos for us to watch later. Sometimes, I could follow what was happening through the ASL interpreter, but sometimes the interpreter was also seen to stop because they couldn't hear what was being said. Still, the energy on location there seemed to be very positive and lively. The workshop that we watched together at 4:00 was called Cultivating Safe Spaces, and it was much better technically, the sound and picture were clear and strong. However, it was a little disappointing that it was a lecture, a talk rather than a workshop. The content was surprisingly good, although not what I expected, and definitely valuable, very worthwhile. 

Fasting ended with each participant telling what fed the spirit during the day of fasting and all the activities. Feeling the love of the creator and the ancestors was something that was mentioned and I certainly agree. Love was the most prominent theme. One participant said their heart was so full that they didn't feel that their stomach was empty, and that was to them a reminder that prayer, songs and dances, and community help us to go through challenging things. These messages touched my heart. Songs and music feed my spirit always. Here's another take-away from one of the participants that resonated with me: "Raising little boys to good men" will make the world a better place. Moose hide- and the little squares of it that everyone was wearing- was a symbol of what makes a good person: a strong hide that is tough on the inside and soft on the outside. I liked that the campaign is aimed at boys and men, but that women- who have been "carrying the lion's share" of the work and responsibility- were included. The role of the grandmother was given prominence, and there was a grandmother who was essential to some of the ceremonies. 

I think I will write more about the day. I took notes, made a lot of notes. For now, I encourage you to go to the website or to YouTube to watch the videos. I would like to re-watch the things that I saw and also watch the workshops that I didn't sign up for. Here below, you'll find the highlights of the day video to start. 

It was a lovely day in lovely company. 

Here are some of the songs we sang and listened to:

  • Half-Breed by Cher (look this up, we talked a lot about this one)
  • Broken Arrow by Robbie Robertson  and by Rod Stewart (look up Robbie Roberstson)
  • The Circle Game by Buffy Sainte-Marie and by Joni Mitchell
  • Up Where We Belong by Buffy Sainte-Marie and by Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes
  • Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte-Marie
  • War isn't Murder by Jesse Welles
  • Talkin' Bout a Revolution by Tracy Chapman
  • If I Were a Boy by Beoncé
  • The Man by Taylor Swift
  • Respect by Aretha Franklin 

Here is the video of highlights. YouTube should direct you to more videos, and you can also go to the Moose Hide Campaign Day website. Here's the link for you.  https://moosehidecampaign.ca/ 


 

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