The Moose Hide Campaign partnered with McMaster University to launch, The Time is Now Campaign. #TheTimeIsNow Safe Space, Safe Place McMaster campaign was an expansion of the IT’S TIME to End Violence on Campus Campaign implemented in 2014. The objective of the new campaign was to increase awareness about violence against women and gender-based violence including the way in which different groups are impacted as a result of social isolation, intersecting identities and/or a history of colonization.
The goal of this initiative was to foster reconciliation and understanding through increased awareness, allowing the McMaster community to consistently respond to future incidents and emerging issues on campus more effectively, and continue to improve the IT’S TIME recommendations and McMaster Sexual Violence Response Protocol. Based on the recommendations from IT’S TIME, McMaster developed a commitment to take action to prevent and respond to all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and created a Sexual Violence Response Protocol to assist all members of the McMaster community in providing a consistent and supportive first response to individuals who disclose experiences of sexual and gender-based violence as outlined in McMaster University’s Commitment to students, staff, and the community.
Since the National Moose Hide Campaign’s third annual National Gathering and Day of Fasting was scheduled to be on October 18, 2018, the chosen date of #TheTimeIsNow Safe Space, Safe Place event was Friday, October 12, 2018 to build momentum in raising awareness for gender-based violence and the Moose Hide Campaign. #TheTimeIsNow Campaign was held at TwelvEighty Bar & Grill on McMaster’s main campus as it was a central hangout spot for Undergraduate students with high visibility and foot traffic.