Grant: Operating Grant: Indigenous Gender and Wellness - Knowledge Sharing

The colonial disruption of Indigenous knowledge and ways of being continues to profoundly negatively impact the health and well-being of Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, and Indigenous gender and sexuality-diverse peoples today. Vitally, Indigenous understandings of gender, sexuality, and health have endured. The CIHR-supported tapahtêyimôkamik (Humble Lodge) project co-designed and piloted inclusive rites of passage for gender- and/or sexuality-diverse youth and their kinship relations. tapahtêyimôkamik is grounded in ceremony, cultural teachings, arts and life-skills activities to build wâhkôhtowin (kinship and connection) that supports youth self-determination and leadership development. tapahtêyimôkamik leaders identified and supported kinship roles, responsibilities, and skill-building to restore balance and self-determination vital to contributing good medicine back to the community. Knowledge was co-generated and shared through ceremony, language reclamation, land-based learning, arts-based activities, and sharing circles. In this proposed knowledge-sharing project, a spirit-centered wâhkôhtowin lens will guide the dissemination of learnings of gender-affirming care and wellness. Invited tapahtêyimôkamik kin will create artwork, photography and digital stories of their rites of passage experiences. The research team will author academic papers targeted to policy makers, academic professionals, and the public. The storytellers and the research team will co-create a workshop that shares the digital stories with the local urban community, First Nations communities, community organizations serving Two-Spirit kin, healthcare professionals, and representatives from three levels of government. This knowledge-sharing project is spirit-centered; arts-based; and grounded in nêhiyaw (Cree) knowledge systems, teachings, and language.