Before settlers arrived on Turtle Island, what would later become North America, each tribe had roles for each gender. There were some members who played a part in both roles, who were considered sacred among tribes. Today they are known as two-spirit people. This identity was the belief of having both the feminine and masculine spirits in oneself and is considered more of a spiritual identity than a sexual one.
When settlers arrived, Indigenous people suffered a cultural genocide, including the knowledge and respect of two-spirt people.
Last Friday, All My Relations and Q-Space, two clubs for the University of Lethbridge, joined forces to bring an information session to raise awareness about two-spirit people.
Three two-spirit individuals shared their experiences at the event. Marla Medicine Shield, a member of the Treaty 7 territory, says she knew from a young age that she was different and later identified as a lesbian in her teens, but even that label didn’t feel quite right. It wasn’t until her time at post-secondary school that she learned about the term two-spirit and decided to look into it more.
“I began my research into this term and found that two-spirit was an Indigenous term before colonization that described an Indigenous person who holds both masculine and feminine characteristics.”
Medicine Shield says, while she has found her true self, coming out wasn’t an easy journey for her.
“Western society has taught Indigenous people to decolonize their traditional ways of knowing, which includes their the two-spirit identity,” says Medicine Shield. “However, with hard work and patience, my family and I developed a closer and tighter bond that has evolved throughout the years.”
Medicine Shield says she advocates for the missing and murdered Indigenous women, after the murder of her grandmother in March of 1999. She also wants young two-spirit individuals to know that they belong to a community.
“If there are any youth who are struggling to accept your own identity, remember: you are not alone.”
Megan Gros Ventre Boy says she was approached by the Lethbridge Pride Board to share her knowledge of being two-spirit and, after consulting with Elders, she was encouraged to use her voice to advocate for the youth.
“I went to four different Elders who told her to use her voice to advocate for the youth.
She has created a presentation with her story to spread awareness of two-spirit identities and has gone all the way to Manitoulin Island, Ont. to share her story.
Gros Ventre Boy says that before colonization, Indigenous people were all a part of a community, where everyone was loved and respected.
“It doesn’t matter your colour, it doesn’t matter your race, it doesn’t matter your identity and what you see yourself as, you were meant to be who you are and walk this earth as you.”
She adds that society has to acknowledge, support and embrace two-spirits in every nation, because every nation has different teaching pertaining to it.
When asked if she’s two-spirit, Gros Ventre Boy replies that she is, but it’s not who she is.
I tell them ‘Yes, I’m two spirited, yes I have that ability to be somebody who carries both masculine and femininity, but I’m just me, Megan.’”
As a teenager Gros Ventre boy struggled so much with her identity that she attempted to take her own life. Her father was miraculously able to resuscitate her after doing CPR for an hour.
She believes that there are two-spirit individuals who don’t the support they need and are slipping through the cracks.
“These are things that we need to work on in society, things we need to embrace to help our young people in our young people, our two spirits are slipping through the cracks because they don’t have support, they don’t have family that accepts them and we need to make safe spaces for them.”
Brooks Arcand-Paul, the first two-spirit MLA in Alberta, says his role comes with a big responsibility of representing the two-spirit community in a white, male-dominated field.
“That space has never had our voices in it since it was created, it has been largely white men that have been in that space and they have not shared the perspectives of our people.”
He adds with the current government creating legislation that is harmful to the trans and non-binary communities, it is critical that queer voices are included in the Legislature.
Arcand-Paul believes that true inclusivity can only happen through decolonization.
“It is in recognizing that what we do as a community has to include every single person and that diversity is woven through our ways of being.”å
Janis Irwin, an openly queer NDP MLA, also spoke about the importance of including trans and two-spirit voices as she believes, while she is queer, she can’t speak for the trans community, she can only amplify their voices.
“That’s why it’s so cool to have Brooks selected to bring that two-spirit perspective because it was a perspective that was missing,” she says.
Arcand-Paul says he knew he was gay early on. His two-spirit nature manifested itself when he would go to powwows and wanted to dance, not the men’s dances, but the women’s dances, specifically the Women’s Traditional.
“Even to this day I’m still considering my options on whether I want to dance in men’s or women’s categories.”
Arcand-Paul says that coming out isn’t just a one-time event, it’s something that happens many times over ones lifetime.
“Coming out happens all the time, it’s not just a one-time thing. We’re always coming out.”
While the fight for equality is far from over, Arcand-Paul says it is important to stay strong.
“We have to stand up, we have to fight back because we are not going back to the way things were, we’re going to continue to occupy and take up space and use our voice and do good work.”