Throughout the month of June, we took a look at First Nations, Inuit and Métis people who have made an impact in history and those who continue to influence today.
“As long as us men and boys fail to respect indigenous women and girls, not because we have mothers, sisters or daughters but as human beings deserving of respect; then we share responsibility for our community’s pain.” - Ricky Mawunganidze
“These women, girls, two-spirited people were all once part of a community across this country. All these individuals were once part of a family, they were a loved one. They might have attended the same school, and they might have been a neighbour.” - Georgette McLeod
Living in Canada gives every person who is not Indigenous the responsibility of taking time to learn and unlearn.
“Two-Spirit is a contemporary English term to reflect gender diversity that Indigenous nations have always had. As Indigenous people, we’ve always had gender diversity and sexual diversity in our Nations before colonization existed on Turtle Island (North America). With the imposition of colonization, Christianity, residential schools and ‘the Sixties Scoop,’ a lot of those teachings of gender diversity have been lost and a lot of people are searching for their identity as Two-Spirit people and the roles and responsibilities that come with that.” - James Makokis
Just did a big shop at Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre! Drop-in to the DWS Library to borrow any of our new library resources or pop by Dänojà Zho’s gift shop when it reopens to buy your own copy.
Kinship reminds me that I deserve good things and so do my friends, family and community. We deserve to live in a world where we don’t have to seek these relationships, rather they are the fabric of our societies.
The report’s Calls to Justice focus on all areas of Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit folks’ lives: government, health, media, legal systems, policing, resource extraction, social services, transportation, education, and child welfare.
We’re focusing, today, on the Calls for All Canadians.
“Two-Spirit is a contemporary English term to reflect gender diversity that Indigenous nations have always had. As Indigenous people, we’ve always had gender diversity and sexual diversity in our Nations before colonization existed on Turtle Island (North America). With the imposition of colonization, Christianity, residential schools and ‘the Sixties Scoop,’ a lot of those teachings of gender diversity have been lost and a lot of people are searching for their identity as Two-Spirit people and the roles and responsibilities that come with that.” - James Makokis
- Posted in Taking Action, Learning
- Tagged indigenous history month, colonialism
Roundup of useful links curated by Dawson Women’s Shelter.