Friday, July 22, 2022 – (Winnipeg, Manitoba – Treaty #1 and the Homeland of the Red River Metis) In the development of
Canada’s response to the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls report
(June 2019), a 2SLGBTQQIA+ Sub-Working Group was mandated to provide a national action plan which
was released in June 2021. The plan states that 2SLGBTQQIA+ people “Require an apology from the 7
Canadian churches/groups that ran Indian Residential and Days Schools for the erasure of the
2SLGBTQQIA+ identity and further racism, homophobia, and transphobia promulgated in these schools
and in First Nation, Inuit, and Métis communities”.

In the late 1800’s, Canada colluded with the Roman Catholic Church to instill an artificial colonial binary
gender identity and heteronormative social norms in Canadian society in general, and in First Nations,
Inuit, and Metis families, political structures, and psychologies. The result has been devastating for 2Spirit
people who have been ridiculed, shamed, banished, and physically and psychologically tortured within
and outside their families and communities for generations.

Despite the Prime Minister’s 2017 apology for Canada’s history of suppressing 2Spirit Indigenous values
and beliefs and the existence of six funded 2Spirit organizations in Canada, there has been no formal
invitation to the 2Spirit population to participate in the Papal visit. Instead, there has been a concerted
effort by the Catholic Church and some sectors of the Indigenous community to revere Christianity, the
colonial binary gender identity, and the supremacy of heterosexuality.
The crimes of the state and church have resulted in the ruined lives and suicides of countless 2Spirit people
in Canada, and the upcoming visit of Pope Francis continues to perpetuate the erasure of 2Spirit history
and identity and the resulting trauma, violence, homophobia, and transphobia.

Related links:
https://mmiwg2splus-nationalactionplan.ca/contributing-partners
https://pm.gc.ca/en/news/speeches/2017/11/28/remarks-prime-minister-justin-trudeau-apologizelgbtq2-canadians

For Media Inquires, contact:
Dr. Albert McLeod
2Spirit Consultants
2Smanitoba2021@gmail.com
204-330-8671
albertmcleod.com