Sewing Change

The Moccasin Project teaches students about Indigenous child welfare and inspiresthem to take action

- Moira Farr

“YOU ARE LOVED and welcomed by everyone around you.”

The handwritten note, fastened to a tiny pair of moccasins, may be short, but the message’s compassion and generosity speak volumes. The deerskin baby shoes, sewn by a high school student in southern Ontario, are on their way to an Indigenous newborn taken into foster care in the northern part of the province. This small yet profound gesture is part of Da-giiwewaat—“So they can go home” in the Anishinaabe language—otherwise known as the Moccasin Project.

Indigenous educator and activist Nancy Rowe launched the campaign in 2016, along with Jodie Williams, co-chair for the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education Association of Ontario. “Making the moccasins humanizes Indigenous people for the students,” says Rowe. “They know that these are going to be on the little feet of real children.” Through citizen action, the women wanted to promote healing and teach young people about Canada’s practice of removing Indigenous children from their families.