Indigenous Peoples and Two-Spirit Considerations Statement

 

Sealord Films Canada conducts filming and storytelling on the traditional and ancestral land of many Indigenous peoples including, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people who reside in diverse settings and communities across Canada. SFC is located and conducts business on the traditional and ancestral territories of the

Coast Salish and S'ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō) people. 

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SFC Acknowledges the Impact of Colonization

 

In Canada, land was taken from indigenous peoples and many were then forced onto reserves and into residential schools. This colonization harmed indigenous peoples and their communities in many ways and the impacts of these harms have been shared and experienced from generation to generation. 

 

The spiritual and cultural beliefs of indigenous people were also impacted by colonial religious belief systems that condemned sexual and gender diversity. Some of the lasting impacts of colonialism have been an increase in homophobia and transphobia in indigenous communities, often forcing lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and Two-Spirited people to leave their home communities.

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Two-Spirit

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The term “Two-Spirit” was created by a group of LGBTQ indigenous community members in 1990 at the third annual intertribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is a term currently used within some Indigenous communities to encompass sexual, gender, cultural and spiritual identity. Two-Spirit reflects complex Indigenous views of gender roles and the long history of sexual and gender diversity in many Indigenous communities. Individual terms and roles for Two-Spirit people are specific to each community.  The term Two-Spirit is only to be used for Indigenous people, due to the cultural and spiritual context, however, not all Indigenous people who hold diverse and gender identities consider themselves to be Two-Spirit.