The United Church congratulates the Two-Spirit community on the 35th anniversary of the groundbreaking term’s introduction
In the summer of 1990, Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre, in Beausejour, Manitoba, (then known as the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Resource Centre) played host to what would become a landmark event in Indigenous and queer history, the Third North American Native American Gay and Lesbian Gathering.
The weekend of transformative spiritual events connecting attendees to aspects of their heritage, which in many cases had been stolen or lost, took on even greater importance for the future when the term “Two-Spirit” was introduced and adopted by the gathering.
The term was conceived by Dr. Myra Laramee, one of the attendees, who conceived of it in a vision prior during a peaceful protest. It refers to diverse Indigenous understandings of gender, sexuality, and/or spirituality, and since 1990 has become a widely embraced term, rooted in an Indigenous knowledge and self-determination that colonialism aimed to eradicate.
That profound historical moment is now being marked by Canada Post, who this summer unveiled a new stamp depicting the event on its 35th anniversary.
The stamp is one of four unveiled as part of Canada Post’s “Places of Pride” series, which “recognizes and honours spaces across the country that Canada’s queer community fought to make their own,” according to Canada Post.
Sandy-Saulteaux Spiritual Centre is a place of spiritual learning where both Indigenous and Christian spirituality are shared and understood, and where Indigenous leaders for the United Church of Canada are trained.
Elder Albert McLeod, one of the organizers of the 1990 event and now a director of 2Spirit Manitoba, worked with Canada Post on the stamp’s design, which shows Indigenous ceremonial activities being performed under a night sky. The artwork also now appears as a mural at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, in Winnipeg.
In the years following the 1990 gathering, many Indigenous groups across North America changed their name to include the term Two-Spirit. The event, which is now known as the Annual International Two-Spirit gathering, has since then been held three times at the Sandy-Saulteaux Centre.
The United Church of Canada extends a profound congratulations to the Two-Spirit community, and those who paved the way to this historic development, in this moment of celebration.
Learn more about the historic gathering and hear from Elder Albert McLeod here.