Thousands of Canadians are taking part in the 19th Movember campaign in Canada. “Movember started in 2003 in Australia. It had nothing to do with anything apart from 30 mates growing 30 moustaches over 30 days,” said Justin Woodroofe, a Movember participant. He was in university in Australia around 2005 when he first took part in the initiative. “I didn’t have anything in the back of my head about what Movember was really about, what it was supporting,” Woodroofe said. “I was like I don’t know if I can grow a moustache, this is going to be hilarious,” he said laughing. His attempt at a handle bar moustache didn’t quite grow as hoped that year. And it didn’t stop him from growing one nearly every November since. “I always say I don’t choose the moustache, the moustache chose me because literally I’ll come in with an idea of what I want to shave and I’ll just do something wrong,” said Woodroofe. He’s tried a variety of what he described as “ridiculous” moustaches over the years. “For me it’s a conversation starter. People will look at it and go ‘what the hell’s wrong with this guy’ but then other people will go ‘Movember, nice’ and there’ll be a conversation started out of that,” Woodroofe said. “The moustaches are part of the conversation starter but really we’re here to make sure that men feel supported, that we’re supporting their communities, their loved ones,” said Catherine Corriveau, the policy and advocacy director for Movember Canada. She said a recent report on men’s health showed 75,000 men died before their 75th birthday in 2023. “Two out of five men on average will not make it to the age of 75 because of reasons that we know how to avoid, coronary heart disease, cancer, suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for men ages 15 to 44,” Corriveau said. “Men’s health includes everything from cancer to mental health, suicide prevention, pretty much everything that goes into being a man,” she added. What started as something fun to do with friends and co-workers during the month of November became something more serious as Woodroofe got older. “Life for me changed as soon as I became a dad,” he said. He came to appreciate the programs around mental health and suicide prevention the organization offers. “Which Movember now supports men and fathers with some of their programs. So throughout that, learning about the challenges of becoming a dad, men’s mental health, to then going through divorce really hit me hard so again, the mental health and suicide prevention,” Woodroofe said. Now the father of three said supporting the cause has become even more important. “They’re the biggest factor of why I do this every year now. I just want them to be open and be able to grow up in a world where they can talk about their emotions, talk about their feelings as opposed to my dad’s time in life where you bottle it up, you man up and move on,” he said. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny
