'Dangerous' anti-trans policies are sweeping the U.S. Is Canada next?

LIBERTARIAN FASCISM

While Canada is no Florida, a platform released by the People's Party of Canada has raised concerns among members of the LGBTQ+ community

Elianna Lev
Thu, June 1, 2023 

A transfeminist activist and jurist from Quebec has gone viral on Instagram for raising the alarm on a dangerous new anti-trans platform released by the People's Party of Canada.

Celeste Trianon's post has been shared almost 15,000 times and has garnered heated discussion, including nearly 400 comments.



The post, an eight-image gallery outlining the Maxime Bernier-led far-right party's policy on "radical gender ideology" in both English and French, warns of the PPC's eyebrow-raising platform. On its website, the PPC claims transgender people have an "evil agenda" and are planning to "destroy" society with the help of the "woke far left and all establishment parties."

The plan includes modifying the Criminal Code to outlaw the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and any form of bodily mutilation on minors with the goal of “transitioning” to another sex, as well as forbidding “biological men” from entering women’s bathrooms, shelters, prisons and change rooms.

It echoes similar moves taking place in the United States, including most publicly in Florida, which has been under the spotlight recently for passing several bills that directly target queer and trans communities.

These include a ban on sexual orientation and gender identity materials in classrooms, also known as the "Don't Say Gay" law, and a ban on transgender women and girls taking part in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

Demonstrators gather to speak on the steps of the Florida Historic Capitol Museum in front of the Florida State Capitol, Monday, March 7, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla. Florida House Republicans advanced a bill, dubbed by opponents as the "Don't Say Gay" bill, to forbid discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, rejecting criticism from Democrats who said the proposal demonizes LGBTQ people. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)More

While some in the comments of Trianon's post downplay the threat of a party that has no elected seats, she warns that it's dangerous to be complacent.

"For those who say it's an American problem, it's not," Trianon tells Yahoo News Canada. "It's very local as well."

Trianon says this kind of policy sets an extremely dangerous precedent and directly targets the trans community.

“This is going to send a very strong message to Canadians that trans Canadians are not worthy of protection,” she says. “This is an anti-freedom policy from a party that’s promoted freedom for so long.”

When she posted about the PPC's policy on LinkedIn, the party responded in the comments, telling her to "read to whole statement before jumping to conclusions."

"They don't even think that this is anti-trans, which is the most horrifying part," she says. "They're not even aware of what they're doing."

Trianon says the PPC introducing this kind of platform is tapping into many people’s fears about gender non-conformity and gender roles by targeting an already marginalized group. She urges Canadians voting in the next election to do so with human rights at the top of mind.

“If you vote against human rights, you might be the next human targeted,” Trianon says.

While the PPC won no seats in the 2021 election — even leader Bernier could not win his Beauce riding — more than 840,000 Canadians voted for the party, almost 5 per cent of all votes. It had more than tripled its support from just two years prior.

This is going to send a very strong message to Canadians that trans Canadians are not worthy of protection.

Where do Canada's political parties stand on LGBTQ+ issues?

The anti-trans policy announcement from the PPC has some reexamining where the other main political parties stand on issues that impact the freedom and safety of the LGBTQ+ community.

Wilbur Turner is the chair and founder of Advocacy Canada, a Canadian advocacy group for queer and trans communities. He spoke to Yahoo Canada News about Canada's political parties' track records on LGBTQ+ issues.
NDP

On the NDP website, the party devotes an entire section to upholding LGBTQ+ rights, which includes increasing access to gender affirming procedures and medication.

Turner says the NDP have always been very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.

“There’s definitely no concerns or question marks with regards to where they stand,” he says. “They’ve been supportive. Whenever there’s been a vote with regards to any kind of rights, like the bill to protect trans rights in the criminal code, they’ve always been in favour. They have a good track record of supporting the community.”

Liberal Party

The Liberals' website highlights the party's record in fighting for LGBTQ+ rights throughout history, which includes decriminalizing homosexuality in 1969, and the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, which protects all Canadians from discrimination.

Turner credits the Liberals for having a “really great track record” on LGBTQ+ issues.

“They’ve done a lot of things to help out the community,” he says.

Turner says the Liberal government is loud on the world stage when it comes to rights being eroded in other countries, including Uganda, which recently signed one of the world’s most severe anti-LGBTQ+ bills into law.

However, he admits there are some things the Liberals promised that took a long time to get done, like a review of blood donation guidelines, which banned men who have sex with men from giving blood.

“There’s been lots of promises made and for the most part those have been kept,” Turner says. “(The Liberals) have been the ones supporting things that have changed, in terms of laws protecting trans people. We even saw the prime minster in his first year in office marching in pride parades.”

"There’s always more to be done," Turner adds. "Going back to what’s happening with regards to oppression and discrimination against the queer community, I think the Liberals need to step up and be very loud about this."


Conservative Party

The Conservative's 2021 recovery plan, under then-leader Erin O'Toole, stressed the party's commitment to fundamental human rights. It vowed to advocate for persecuted sexual minorities and pledged that a Conservative government would "speak clearly and confidently for the inalienable human dignity of LGBTQ people and deploy resources to help their activists." The party promised to make the Rainbow Refugee Assistance Project a permanent government program.

However, Turner says he’d give the Conservatives a big question mark when it comes to their platform on LGBTQ+ issues, as a result of their mixed messages coming from within the party.

“Overall they have the message that they’re supportive, but then there are people in the party that behave otherwise, so it makes us very concerned if there was ever a Conservative government and it depends on who the leader is and what kind of voices they have in caucus to what might happen,” he says.

Some examples include:

Former leader Andrew Scheer refused to comment on his stance on same-sex marriage when leader of the party, even though he had spoken against it in the past.

62 Conservative party members voted against banning conversion therapy in the third reading of the bill in 2021.

Kelowna-Lake Country CPC MP lashed out at the LGBTQ+ community after being banned from attending Pride.

Turner says it’s a sign that the reality of what the queer and trans community faces isn’t always represented in those politicians, especially when party members have a long history of voting against any bills related to the LGBTQ+ community.

Green Party

The Green Party states under its values section its respect for diversity, which includes "recognition of and respect for sexual minorities" and "equality between people of all genders in all spheres of social, economic, political and cultural life."

Turner says that although the Green party isn’t well represented across Canada, for the most part there hasn’t been anything from the party that causes him concern.

“I haven’t seen any red flags that would leave me alarmed,” he says.

'We're safe nowhere': New anti-trans policy announcement by Canada's PPC sparks fears

People's Party of Canada's policy announcement on radical gender ideology is raising concerns

Corné van Hoepen
·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada
May 26, 2023·

An LGBTQ activist holds a sign reading "Trans People Just Want to Live" during a protest on March 17, 2023, in front of the US Consulate in Montreal, Canada, calling for transgender and non-binary people be admitted into Canada. - According to police services, some 200 people gathered in the rain to show support for the trans community in the United States. (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV / AFP) (Photo by ANDREJ IVANOV/AFP via Getty Images) (ANDREJ IVANOV via Getty Images)More

A new policy announced by the leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) in Manitoba on Tuesday is sparking fears among LGBTQ2S communities across the nation.

Speaking at a press event in Winkler, Man., Party Leader Maxime Bernier announced a new policy which takes aim at radical gender ideology.

“With the active support of the woke far left and all establishment parties, radical trans activists are trying to transform society in a way that curtails everyone’s freedoms,” Bernier said during the press conference. “This radical agenda, which contradicts basic biological realities, is proving particularly harmful to women and children.”

The policy lays out a seven-point plan, which includes:

Modifying the Criminal Code to outlaw the use of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and any form of bodily mutilation on minors with the goal of “transitioning” to another sex

Protecting women’s spaces – bathrooms, changing rooms, shelters, and prisons – from “intrusion by biological men”

Abolishing federal programs that fund sex change operations for civil servants and prisoners

Removing the ban imposed by Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy), on helping minors who suffer from gender dysphoria accept their body

Strictly enforcing section 163.1(1)(b) of the Criminal Code in order to remove inappropriate pornographic content from schools and libraries, which Action4Canada defines as sexually explicit and pornographic books that are being made available to children via schools and public libraries

Maintaining separate competitions for women in which “biological men” cannot participate in sports regulated and funded by the federal government

Repealing Bill C-16, which makes gender self-identification grounds for protection against discrimination

Should Canadians be concerned?

Though the PPC only won 820,000 votes, making up five per cent of the popular vote during the 2021 federal election, experts say that the rise in popularity of the party, which holds far-right values, cannot be ignored.

Historically, Bernier has denied ties and affiliations to far-right groups and white nationalists, despite his public stance on reducing immigration and scrapping the Multiculturalism Act.

A more concerning incident involving the PPC is a report by Press Progress, which exposed PPC candidate Mario Greco for allegedly creating a video game in which users were able shoot caricatures of minorities and LGBTQ2S people.

The idea used to be that Canada was immune to sort of far-right populism

Tamara Small, University of Guelph professor of political science

"I think lots of people are wondering, if he's [Bernier] just going to say ‘I'm not here to form government…I'm more here to challenge the system’” as a way of gaining support," Small said in a previous interview with media.

Where concerns are growing is the rise of anti-LGBTQ2S ideologies and hate speech instances occurring in Canada, which seem to reflect conversations and bills being passed in the United States.

During 2023, movements fuelled by national anti-LGBTQ2S group legislators across the United States have overridden the recommendations of the American medical establishments. They introduced hundreds of bills that target transgender and non-binary youth’s access to age-appropriate, medically-necessary care, according to the Non-Government Organization (NGO) Human Rights Campaign.

Public Response

"If you think that we're safe in Canada: this is the final straw. We're not," wrote Celeste Trianon in a statement posted to Instagram.

"We are only one election away from having our healthcare, civil liberties, and ability to live in public stolen away. We're one election away from becoming Florida. If the Conservatives adopt said platform, all our human rights will be gone. In a snap."


Other social media users chimed in expressing their concerns on how this policy has the potential to harm LGBTQ2S communities in Canada and others slammed Bernier for his views.

While some expressed that the current "woke" climate of Canada is "taking things too far", many couldn’t defend the policy spewing hateful thoughts.


Some organizations are asking Canadians to support the LGBTQ2S community.


"I'm greatly scared — this is why I feel like I gotta hide, we're safe nowhere.." shared one Instagram user in the comment section of Celeste Trianon's post above.

Another user commented "I have close friends in Florida, and they are making an exit plan to leave there, and they told me that they're thinking of moving to Canada and I was wondering if it was just as bad there as it is here."

The policy announced by the PPC is one held within the party, and does not reflect any bill of law within Canadian Parliament currently.

In a tweet posted in March 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged his ongoing support to those within all facets of the LGBTQ2S community.

"With a disturbing rise in anti-transgender hate here in Canada and around the world recently, I want to be very clear about one more thing: Trans women are women. We will always stand up to this hate – whenever and wherever it occurs," the prime minister tweeted.

Phoenix Indian Center Celebrates 3rd Annual Two-Spirit Powwow


(photo by Darren Thompson)BY DARREN THOMPSON APRIL 17, 2023

PHOENIX — This past weekend, the Phoenix Indian Center hosted an annual powwow that welcomes and celebrates its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S) relatives in a movement that has been growing throughout Indian Country.

The 3rd Annual Two-Spirit Powwow celebrated with 60 registered dancers and six drums representing various tribes from all over Indian Country.

Prior to European colonization, many Indigenous communities acknowledged five genders: male, female, two-spirit males, two-spirit females, and transgendered. Two-spirit is a term generally and exclusively used by American Indian people and communities that define a male or female as having two genders—male and female simultaneously.

“In many different tribes, many Two-Spirit community members are very important and vital, and because we’re in an urban center, we’re not necessarily around our ancestral homelands,” Phoenix Indian Center’s Chief Executive Officer Jolyana Begay-Kroupa told Native News Online. “In many instances, our teachings become lost over time. This powwow is really about organizing a way to come back together, support and celebrate our brothers and sisters who are in the LGTBQ2S community.”

The Phoenix Indian Center has been organizing the powwow since 2021, when it was held virtually and has remained committed to supporting the LGBTQ2S community ever since. Founded in 1947, the Phoenix Indian Center is the oldest urban American Indian Center in the United States.

Last weekend’s Two-Spirit Powwow was co-organized by Mesa Community College and the South Mountain Community College and drew the largest crowd the event has seen so far. The powwow included more than two dozen art vendors, food vendors, and booths for people to sign up for information from the Phoenix Indian Center, Native Health, or how to become allies for the LGBTQ2s community.

“This was a great turnout today, lots of smiling faces,” Begay-Kroupa said of the powwow.

Monique “Muffie” Mousseau drove down from Rapid City, S.D., to attend the powwow to support both her partner, Felipa De Leon, as one of the head dancers and the Phoenix Indian Center.

“They supported us when Felipa and I were having a difficult time,” Mousseau said in an interview with Native News Online.

Mousseau and De Leon were married with seven other couples at the National Gay Marriage Celebration in 2015 at the Mount Rushmore National Monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When the couple discovered same-sex remained illegal on the Pine Ridge Reservation where they grew up, they petitioned for a change in the reservations law — which they achieved in 2019 when the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a same-sex marriage ordinance in a 12–3 vote.

Mousseau and De Leon went on to start Uniting Resilience, an organization that advocates for other Indigenous communities to establish laws of protection and rights for marriage equality.

They help organize an annual two-spirit powwow in Sioux Falls.

Tony Duncan, award-winning hoop dancer and Native American flute player, attended the event with his family to support his brother, who was one of the head dancers of the powwow.

“We came as a family to support my brother, Kyle,” Tony Duncan told Native News Online. “It’s great to see everyone here.”

AMNESTY INTERATIONAL

 

Highlighting issues affecting Indigenous and LGBTQ2S

 communities  

Wedzin Kwa - "the blue and green river" - in Wet'suwet'en yintah.
Image credit: Michael Toledano.    

June 1st marked the beginning of Indigenous History Month* and Pride Month**, a time for members of these communities to celebrate their accomplishments and cultures. It is also one of the many opportunities for us to learn more about their histories and to support the continued advocacy of their rights.  

This month, Amnesty International has curated a series of guest essays directly from the perspectives of community activists and leaders of Indigenous-led and queer-led organizations to highlight various human rights issues affecting both the LGBTQ2S and Indigenous communities, such as the current barriers to justice for Two Spirit, trans, and gender non-conforming individuals; the challenges of displacement for LGBTQI+ Afghans; and the continued systemic barriers towards ending violence against Indigenous women and girls.

Conversations about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls*** cannot be separated from the 231 Calls for Justice in the 2019 National Inquiry Final Report, which included the demand for “a world within which First Nations, Inuit, and Métis families can raise their children with the same safety, security, and human rights that non-Indigenous families do, along with full respect for the Indigenous and human rights of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis families.” Despite the legal obligation for governments to fully implement the Calls for Justice, this demand still has not yet been fully realized. 

One of the core themes explored within the Report is upholding the agency and expertise of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people. Our guest essay series is guided by the intent to centre their perspectives and knowledge. For National Indigenous Peoples Day, we are pleased to share two new essays, Epimotew Tastawayik Niso Askiya - Walking in Two Worlds written by Rachel Wuttunee who shares her personal and professional insights as an Indigenous Community Planner; and Industry, Police and MMIWG2S in Wet’suwet’en Yintah, by Jennifer Wickham, who writes on the gendered impacts of resource development and the actions of the RCMP in the Wet'suwet'en territory.

This past month, we have been grateful to support the visibility of organizations like JusticeTrans, Rainbow Railroad, and the Native Women’s Association of Canada and invite you to support their current campaigns, Safe Way Out and the Faceless Dolls Project.

The final essay in our series is about the lived experiences of queer Muslims and the intersections of Islamophobia and homophobia, and will be released on our blog and shared on our Twitter and Instagram accounts on June 29th.

We remain grateful for all opportunities to foster dialogue, awareness and action.

Miigwech, Nakummek. Misiyh. Thank you.

Habibah Haque
Gender Rights Campaigner
Amnesty International Canada 

*Featured in this email's graphic, the Progress Pride flag was developed in 2018 by non-binary American artist and designer Daniel Quasar. The flag includes black and brown stripes to represent LGBTQ2S communities of colour, along with the colours pink, light blue and white, which are used on the Transgender Pride Flag. 

**Bridget Tolley, from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec, beaded the eagle earrings featured in this email's graphic. She runs Families of Sisters in Spirit, a volunteer-run, grassroots initiative supporting the loved ones of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people across Canada.

***This image depicts Indigenous women who are honouring and paying tribute to Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people, and was generously provided by NWAC. 

Kahnawà:ke’s first female, LGBTQ2S grand chief

Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer takes the reins of the community located south of Montreal, Canada, and north of the New York border

Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer was elected grand chief of Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory. (Photo courtesy of Facebook via APTN National News)

JUL 7, 2021

APTN National News

The Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory has a long tradition of female leadership but has never had a female grand chief – until now.

Over the weekend, Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer, 41, became the first woman and first person who identifies as LGBTQ2S to be elected to the post, replacing former grand chief Joe Norton, who died last year.

A woman leading the Mohawk territory is a “natural evolution,” Sky-Deer, a longtime councillor, said in a recent interview.

Women, she added, have always played an important role as custodians of the land, in passing down language and culture, and in governance.

Sky-Deer said she believes her upbringing and closeness to the Mohawk culture and language resonated with voters.

She said she chose to enter Kahnawà:ke politics in 2009 after working in a tobacco factory upon graduating from the University of Central Florida with a degree in psychology.

“I was like, `Oh my God, I didn’t go to school all these years to do this kind of work,”’ she said of the tobacco industry. “You know, I want to be working for my people trying to make change.”

Sky-Deer takes the reins of the community located south of Montreal, and north of the New York border, that is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and facing a number of issues, including a lack of housing and a need for more well-paying jobs for community members.

But first, she said, there’s a need for healing.

Kahnawà:ke has been deeply affected by the discovery of unmarked graves at former residential school sites in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, she said, adding that she wants to organize some activities to help uplift people’s spirits.

“There’s been a lot of anger and sadness and trauma, because everybody has a story in terms of how they’re impacted by the residential school experience, be it (that) their grandparents were survivors, their parents were survivors, or maybe just a friend or somebody they knew,” she said.

Sky-Deer is also aware that the very political system under which she was elected is controversial.

The band council structure was created under the federal Indian Act and has sometimes been run in a way that is inconsistent with the traditional, collective decision-making process of the Mohawk people, she said.

“How Mohawk people understand governance and the way the system is now is at odds with each other.”

As grand chief, she said she hopes to find a middle ground that balances the approaches so “people can feel like they have a voice in what’s going to happen and what’s coming, and that the council doesn’t just unilaterally make decisions.”


Sky-Deer said she’s eager to hit the ground running in her new post. Her first official council day was Monday, which began with a traditional tobacco-burning ceremony.

She said she believes she’s taking over at a time when the federal government is facing unprecedented scrutiny in regard to its relationship with Indigenous people. This added attention to Indigenous issues, she said, could create opportunities with regard to negotiations between her council and various levels of government.

Her message to her council and her community, she said, is that they have a voice in the process.

“Once they feel that, that’s empowerment, and when you feel empowered, the sky’s the limit.”

With files from the Canadian Press.

Light over Turtle Island: Indigenous tales about North America’s creation

Lysandra Nothing

Zed Files is a Global News exclusive series exploring unusual, unexplained and legendary stories in Canada.

--


Who made the land and sky?

Indigenous people have been telling tales to answer that question since long before the settlers arrived in North America — and those tales are still being told today, as part of the rich oral tradition that lives on among many First Nations across Canada.

Read more: A Day to Listen: Amplifying Indigenous voices and working towards reconciliation

The stories vary from one community and storyteller to another, and they can teach a different lesson each time they’re told, according to Chantal Chagnon, an Ojibwe storyteller and artist from Muskeg Cree Lake Nation, Sask.

“Many people will have different perspectives, different interpretations, but it's about your personal experience and personal growth and what learnings you need from that story,” said Chagnon.

Perhaps no story is more essential than the origin of the sun and the land — a story that has been told many times across Canada’s Indigenous communities.
The origin of Turtle Island

Many Cree legends star Wasakajak, a shape-shifting trickster figure who often helps humanity.

In a Cree legend shared by Chagnon, Wasakajak helps the world recover from a great flood by venturing out with Beaver, Turtle and Muskrat to find soil.

It is said that the giant flood was the “Creator’s anger at the humans for destroying the land,” and that the Creator wanted a new start.

Beaver and Turtle failed in their searches, said Chagnon. Then the tiny Muskrat “stepped through the crowd and she popped out her chest really proudly and said she could do it.”


"It's a glimpse of a way of belief and understanding, a deeper meaning of culture."

Muskrat dove into the water and was out of sight for a long time. A “bubble of air surfaced” and all the animals grieved, assuming she had failed.

But she hadn’t. According to this legend, Muskrat floated to the surface with a small patch of soil in her paws.

“Wasakajak took the soil and rubbed it onto the turtle’s back and as he did, it got larger and heavier, and so it created all of the landmass that we see now,” Chagnon said. “This is why we call North America Turtle Island.

“He took a deep breath and blew to the east and as he did, Grandfather Sun came up from behind the clouds, and he warmed the earth. All of the seeds that were within the earth began to spring into life.

“Wasakajak blew to the south and the earth began to shake. Huge trees began to grow out of the ground. Mountains started to form, which led to valleys, and the hills and plains to deserts and to all of the land that we see now.”
Raven the lightbringer

According to another Indigenous legend from the Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation in northern Yukon, the creation of light came from a mythological figure known as Raven.

The legend outlines hardships that should still be familiar to much of humanity today: those of pregnancy, motherhood, sacrifices and love.

“We were all in darkness at one time, and there's a beautiful story about how Raven was able to trick the Big Sky Chief into giving him light so he can bring light to the world,” says Louise Profeit-LeBlanc, a traditional story keeper from the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun in Mayo, Yukon.

The woman who gave birth to Raven was the second wife of the Big Sky Chief, a legendary being in the form of the sun.

The Big Sky Chief killed their first two children for “unknown reasons,” according to the legend told by Profeit-LeBlanc.

The first wife of the Big Sky Chief told the second wife there was an “island up at the other end of the land.” The second wife agreed to go because she could not stand the sight of the Big Sky Chief, who had killed her children.

When she got there, the grieving woman went into the sea in hopes of being pulled under the waves.

Read more: Kahnawà:ke elects first woman, LGBTQ2S member as Grand Chief

Profeit-LeBlanc says the woman encountered a “mysterious man” who appeared on the shore. He comforted her over the loss of her first two children and instructed her to “go back to her camp and make a fire.”

As the tale goes, she made the fire and was instructed to “place a stone in the fire” and then swallow it whole.

“She thought, ‘Oh man, he is trying to help me do the job quickly,’” said Profeit-LeBlanc, indicating the woman thought that the mysterious man wanted to help her find an easier way to die. “She threw it in her mouth. And she drank water quickly, so it didn’t burn her mouth or tongue.

“Not too long afterwards, she felt that familiar movement inside of herself, inside of her womb.”

She was pregnant. According to the legend, the woman gave birth to Raven under a tree. When Raven was able to fly, he grew tired of flying in the dark world, so Raven looked for light.



”These are stories that help people to continue to be resilient, strong and loving."

One day, Raven saw Big Sky Chief take the light out of a box. Raven decided he would steal that light.

Raven was flying when he saw the Big Sky Chief’s daughter bathing in the river. He turned himself into a spruce needle, which the woman swallowed.

Later, Raven transformed into a human infant and was “born” as the child of the Big Sky Chief’s daughter. Raven then asked his “grandpa,” the Big Sky Chief, if he could play with the ball of light. The Big Sky Chief said no, which “angered the mother,” and she opened the box and tossed the ball of light to Raven.

Raven immediately transformed again into his true form and flew off with the light. The Big Sky Chief transformed into an eagle and chased Raven across the land and over the ocean.

During the chase, Raven “knocked the ball of light into a cliffside,” and the piece that broke off became the moon and stars.

Raven fled across the ocean and eventually the eagle turned back. Raven “dropped the ball of light” in exhaustion and the light “began to rise over the horizon, becoming the sun.”

“This is the amazing thing about the oral tradition of Indigenous people. This story is packed with knowledge. It's packed with cultural knowledge, theoretical knowledge, what and how people help each other,” said Profeit-LeBlanc.

There are often multiple tales that tell the same story; in many cases, different Indigenous groups from all over Turtle Island have varied versions, showcasing the beauty of the oral tradition.

Buffalo and the first fire

In a Cree legend shared by Chagnon, humans learned how to create fire after it was stolen from the Thunderbirds, another group of mythological beings.

As the legend goes, Wasakajak kept a keen eye on the “two-legged,” a term used to describe humans.

“By the fourth year, the winter got really, really cold. It got so cold that the two-legged people started freezing to death and Wasakajak knew that something had to be done,” said Chagnon.

“Wasakajak went to the Creator, who said to him, 'Go and talk to the Buffalo and tell him the situation and see what the Buffalo are willing to do.'

“And so the Buffalo said, 'I'm going to teach all of the two-leggeds how to use every aspect of me. To know how to feed themselves through the winter with my meat, how to be able to cook it and dry it, but also how to make clothing out of my hide, how to smoke it, to make leather, how to be able to create blankets to be able to stay warm. I will teach them how to stretch my hide along with the lodgepole pine tree to create a teepee.'

“The people learned how to sustainably use the buffalo and never take more than what they needed, but it was still too cold and they were starting to die,” said Chagnon.

Read more: Canadian UFO sightings are up — but are aliens or COVID-19 to blame?

Wasakajak’s only option was to ask the Thunderbirds, who controlled the storms, to stop the cold weather.

“He said, “Thunderbird, Thunderbird, please stop with the weather, it's too cold for the two-leggeds.'”

In the legend told by Chagnon, the Thunderbirds agreed with Wasakajak about the weather being too cold, but they insisted that “there are plants that need that cold, to be able to replenish themselves for the years to come,” and that “there are animals that need the cold to be able to hibernate a lot longer. There are other animals that need the cold to be able to adjust and adapt and survive in a better way.”

“Wasakajak asked for fire instead, but the Thunderbirds said no.”

Chagnon says that in the legend, Wasakajak tried to steal one of the Thunderbirds’ fire eggs while they slept.

“He tripped over a root and he dropped the fire egg, and it started to roll down the hill towards the two-leggeds and left a trail of fire behind it.”

Wasakajak took shelter in some birch trees, which the Thunderbird attacked in anger. Its claws “left deep dark grooves in the tree,” which are the “same ones we see today on the bark,” said Chagnon.

The fire egg rolled into the midst of the two-leggeds, “who gathered around the fire and began to tell stories to one another.”

These stories and many more have been told around campfires for centuries. They don't always mean the same thing or include the same details or characters, but the legends and myths are all a part of our shared history, even if we come from very different places. Despite this, each legend and myth has important meaning.

“It's a glimpse of a way of belief and understanding, a deeper meaning of culture,” said Chagnon. “But storytelling is essential in any culture, because it teaches us about the world around us and it's a way to connect on a deeper level.”

Profeit-LeBlanc said: “These aren't just little made-up stories, you know.”

”These are stories that help people to continue to be resilient, strong and loving."

MY MP

Blake Desjarlais is Canada’s first Two Spirit Canadian MP: ‘We’re starting to see ourselves more’

By Kirby Bourne  630CHED

Posted September 23, 2021 

NDP candidate Desjarlais won his seat Monday night with 40.5 per cent of the votes, flipping the riding from Conservative. Former Edmonton city councillor Kerry Diotte held the seat since it was created in 2015.

“I think what made the difference in our election is making sure that we’re present in the community, we’re active in the community, and we’re there for people, because we’re going to be,” Desjarlais told Shaye Ganam on Thursday

Two Spirit is a difficult identity to explain. According to Chalifoux, who uses they/them pronouns, the definition can mean something different to different Indigenous people.

READ MORE: Canada election: 3 new Indigenous MPs likely elected for NDP, Tories

The Edmonton 2 Spirit Society has adopted the understanding that “Two Spirit peoples transcend the boundaries that are set by the binary of male and female, thereby restoring our gender fluidity among our people,” they explained.

“It’s to really help understand the diversity of traditions, cultures and understandings that have been lost to our people as we try to redefine ourselves, as well as find those cultures and traditions that have been buried.”

6:08Canada election: Indigenous issues ‘never really risen to top’

Canada election: Indigenous issues ‘never really risen to top’

Electing someone who identifies in a way that is maybe less understood or common than other parts of the LGBTQ2S community, Chalifoux said, not only helps to make that identity more commonplace, it shows Indigenous youth growing up who may identify as Two Spirit that their voices can be heard.

“There is space available for us, even though we have been pushed to the margins and nearly eradicated and we are going through high amounts of suicide and grief and loss right now in our communities, as we have for some time.

“Our youth are going to know that, that it’s ok. It’s ok to identify who you are, to be your true being, and to see that, you know, we can be represented on TV, we can be represented in the news, we can be represented in our leadership and in parliament.”

READ MORE: Alberta musician Shawnee Kish hopes her two-spirit story inspires youth to reclaim culture, identity

In the 2021 election, there will be three new Indigenous MPs: Desjarlais, Adam Chambers, also Metis, who took the seat of Simcoe-North in Ontario for the Conservatives and Lori Idlout, who kept Nunavut orange, will replace NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, who decided not to run again.

That means there will be 12 Indigenous MPs in this cabinet, up by one from the 2019 election.

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On top of being Indigenous and Two Spirit, Desjarlais is also one of the youngest people elected in this campaign.

“These are some of the issues and some of the demographics that are currently missing from the House of Commons and have historically missed these perspectives from the House of Commons, which largely, I believe, contribute to the disenfranchisement of so many people in our community.”

Desjarlais is the only Indigenous MP from Alberta.

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Blake Desjarlais to become Canada’s first two-spirit MP

Federal NDP candidate Blake Desjarlais has made history. The MP-elect in Edmonton-Griesbach will be the first openly two-spirit Métis member of Parliament. His journey to the top was far from conventional. Chris Chacon reports.

MP Blake Desjarlais on how he will represent Edmonton-Griesbach in Ottawa

Blake Desjarlais is the new member of Parliament for Edmonton-Griesbach. Desjarlais is from the Fishing Lake Metis Settlement and former energy industry worker. He’s also the first two spirit MP in the country. He joined Vinesh Pratap on the noon news to talk about how he plans to represent all his constituents in Canada’s capital.

  

NDP's Blake Desjarlais reacts to big win in Edmonton Griesbach

Sep 23, 2021