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Two-Spirit Resources

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Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
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Related Guides

Two-Spirit is a term commonly used in North America to refer to Indigenous individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations - it also has specific usages and contexts beyond being used as an umbrella term for assorted queer Indigenous identities. Although the term itself is rather new - having been proposed in 1990 as a replacement to the outdated anthropological term, "berdache" - there is a much longer tradition among some First Nations groups of acknowledging the role that these individuals have within their communities. Learn more about what it means to be two-spirit, their historical significance within certain tribes, and the resources that are available to those who are two-spirit.

Two-Spirited People

Includes brief description, Vancouver groups and initiatives, books, online resources, film, and academic articles about two-spirited people.

Link to PBS film about the brutal hate crime against 16 year-old Fred Martinez who was nádleehí, a male-bodied person with a feminine nature.

History and Research

Introduction to the history of two-spirited people. Includes a useful reading list.

Resource for learning more about traditional Native American concepts surrounding gender and sexual orientation

Open Educational Resource for college level course module on two-spirited people

University of Winnipeg's archived images for two-spirit research

Includes links to seminal research papers on the history of and current understanding of two-spirited communities

UBC's Faculty of Education (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity - SOGI) providing links to further exploration, research, and inclusion

Local Societies and Support

Check below for Two-Spirit support available in the Lower Mainland.

UNYA's 2-Spirit Collective provides support, resources, and programming for Indigenous youth, ages 15 to 30, who identify as 2-spirit or LGBTQ+. Located in east Hastings, Vancouver. 

Sandy Leo Laframboise is a two-spirited Elder who leads trans-positive ceremonies on Tsleil-Waututh territory. Contact Sandy at dancingtoeaglespirit@gmail.com or 778-319-3965.

Bon Fabian holds a sweat lodge for two-spirited people and allies on Squamish territory. Contact Bon at bonsfab@gmail.com or 604-700-6751.

Provides Indigenous healing services and resources. Designed to preserve traditional healing practices.

IRSSS provides essential services to Residential School Survivors, their families, and to those dealing with intergenerational traumas. Head office is in North Vancouver, but there are locations throughout BC.

The Native Youth Sexual Health Network has a national campaign for First Nations youth across Canada to fight homophobia and normalize healthy sexuality.

National Aboriginal Health Organization's full publication on suicide prevention for two-spirited people

Recommended Titles

Cover Image for Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America
Will Roscoe
Call Number
305.897 R79c
In the original America, men who did women's work became artists, ambassadors and religious leaders, and women sometimes became warriors, hunters and even chiefs. Same-sex marriages flourished. Roscoe's book is a lively, readable account of the presence of people in native North America whose gender identities do not fit into neat categories as defined by anthropologists. These are people to whom Roscoe refers as "third and fourth gender," people who have been documented in more than 150 North American tribes.
Cover Image for She Walks for Days Inside A Thousand Eyes: A Two Spirit Story
Proulx-Turner, Sharron
Call Number
c821 P968s
Publication Year
2008
In she walks for days inside a thousand eyes (a two spirit story), Sharron Proulx-Turner combines poetry and history to delve into the little-known lives of two-spirit women. The book juxtaposes first-person narratives and traditional stories with the voices of contemporary two-spirit women

Contact Us

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

  • magazine and newspaper articles
  • pamphlets
  • books
  • chapters in books
  • many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.