Thanks, Brook.
Tansi. Hello.
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss the health and wellness of our communities. Specifically, on behalf of the Edmonton 2 Spirit Society and other two-spirits across Turtle Island, I wish to thank you.
I am co-chair and one of the founders of the Edmonton 2 Spirit Society, which is a grassroots organization providing safe spaces and supports for two-spirits in the Edmonton area and delivering education to the community at large. I am also a delegate of the International Council of Two Spirit Societies and a member of the Alberta College of Social Workers' sexual and gender diversity committee as an indigenous social worker. I come here as a storyteller to share the importance of identity and culture, which will give you some personal insights into how history and current events are affecting two-spirits.
You have already heard a lot about the disparities faced by the LGBTIQ and the two-spirit community like homelessness, vulnerability, stigma and discrimination; inequalities around access to health care, employment, income and social supports; higher rates of mental illness, suicide, HIV/STBBIs and a plethora of other issues faced specifically by two-spirits; and, as you're well aware, the overrepresentation of indigenous communities in terms of other socio-economic concerns.
I could share statistics and research with you around two-spirit health as well as the challenges and barriers endured by two-spirits, but it would never offer you a true picture. You see, the tradition of two-spirits had nearly been eradicated with colonization, residential schools and the current systems in place for indigenous peoples. I need not recount the treatment and traumas here, but we can at least honour and recognize our history and what we learned during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Two-spirits was once a culture revered and honoured, which held traditional roles such as medicine keepers, care givers and healers. The language and oral history were almost forgotten, and some lost forever. In some tribes like the Plains Cree and Blackfoot, there are seven recognized gender roles, and many tribes across North America understood that it was forbidden to interfere with an individual's expression.
Therefore, traditionally, all genders were respected. Europeans didn't understand our culture, actively condemned two-spirit people, left us out of history and further went on to set up systems designed to eradicate the culture. There began a heteronormative, cis-normative, gender binary. An example was the introduction of gendered spaces in residential schools where children were actively separated according to their genitalia.
Most important to discuss today are the impacts for two-spirits. To do this, I am going to share a bit of my own story. I am two-spirit. I'm a father and I'm a social worker. I have lived those disparities you've been hearing of. I've overdosed many times. I've attempted suicide, self-harmed and I live with ADHD, anxiety and disabilities, and have endured through things no one need ever face.
I was a youth in group homes and I went on to live through over 12 years in Canadian correctional systems, nearly five of those in solitary confinement alone. I either lived homeless on the streets of Edmonton or I was in prison. The first needle I put in my arm was with methamphetamines at age 13. At a time when hormones were high and puberty just beginning, when I should have been exploring my sexuality, instead I was repressing it.
I should have just been a kid at that time, but I wasn't able to because I was lost, confused and I didn't have the traditional knowledge and teachings. I never knew about my culture because, in my family, our indigenous roots were eradicated. I matured into my two-spirit self at 35 years old after nearly 25 years of severe substance abuse. I am now four years clean and sober and about to embark on graduate studies in social work. I walk the red road as a traditional two-spirit helper. I am also an attuned father to a five-year-old son who we raise free of the barriers I faced. My common-law husband and I raise our son with my wife, his mother. We are in each other's homes, we all love and care about each other and we live free from shame and guilt.
My story is not unique. Time and time again I sit with indigenous youth to talk about things no one ever talked to me about. Sexuality and sexual health, substance use and mental health are a huge part of those conversations.
One youth told me that when he was 12, he told his foster mom that he had started kissing other boys. He got a licking, he got grounded and he got his electronics taken away. Another guy shared that he was kicked out of his house and shunned from the reserve. He moved to Edmonton and soon began doing drugs and survival sex with other men. There are many two-spirits who are lost and simply just trying to exist.
You heard from Brook that I am the harm reduction program coordinator with EMHC, and I am lucky and honoured to make my past experiences an asset to those I help today.
I wish to note that EMHC fully recognizes and supports two-spirits. It's my hope that the Canadian government will do the same by reconciling the disparities two-spirits endure in the present day by actively engaging in circles and discussions with two-spirit leaders and elders. Finding ways to effectively address the disparities and to fund practical ways that are rooted in culture and guided by two-spirits will aid in our survival. Events such as two-spirit powwows, two-spirit gatherings and education in first nations are some things that would certainly help.
I wish to thank you for the opportunity to share today. I'm honoured to answer any questions you may have.