Honouring National Indigenous History Month and 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride Month
June is National Indigenous History Month and 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride Month. This month highlights the ongoing fight for liberation among First Nation, Inuit, and Metis communities and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
While these are sometimes viewed as separate fights for liberation, we recognize the ways in which our liberation is connected, and that systems of oppression and violence are interconnected and therefore must be collectively dismantled.
Both Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across Turtle Island face disproportionate rates of gender-based violence and have less access to culturally appropriate resources and supports.
Unique forms of IPV also exist in these communities, for example, restricting someone’s access to cultural practices, medicines, and traditions or restricting someone’s access to items essential to gender affirmation or “outing” individuals.
There are thousands of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, 2 spirit, and gender diverse people in Canada. Despite many recommendations coming out of the national inquiry very few have been implemented.
Policies, practices, and legislation must centre the lived experiences of survivors with intersecting identities, including queer and Indigenous survivors, and take into consideration the numerous reports, literature, and recommendations that these communities have provided.
While this month has provided an opportunity to reflect on collective commitments to dismantling colonialism, anti-Indigenous racism, homophobia and transphobia, and celebrating queer, Indigenous, and Indigiqueer joy and resistance, this crucial work and learning needs to happen every day regardless of the month.
Luke’s Place is dedicated to supporting Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+communities and we are committed to the ongoing process of learning and unlearning.
The following is some of our staffs favorite reading, listing, and watching list picks for National Indigenous History Month and 2SLGBTQIA+ Pride Month:
- As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom through Radical Resistance by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
- Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown
- Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
- Trauma Informed Lawyer podcast by Myrna McCallum, a Metis lawyer and educator
- Ofime, R., & Papini-Pollock, Y. (2019). Get Over It : A Path to Healing. InFilm Productions.
