This year, the U of A’s third Indigenous Pride Celebration took place on North Campus with the theme “Two-Spirit Pride: A Celebration of Culture and Community.” The event included a variety of Indigenous performances, an artisan market, a prayer and speeches from diverse individuals and representatives from campus initiatives.
As a non-Indigenous student, attending this celebration represented a learning opportunity for me. I got to know more about the queer celebration and its intersection with historical and present Indigenous practices on gender, kin and community. I felt welcomed in this learning experience, as all presenters and fellow students attending the event enthusiastically shared their experiences, answered attendees' questions, and promoted an open dialogue.
Two representatives from the Native Students’ Association started off the event. After, a member from the Fyrefly Institute presented the campus resources available to queer and Indigenous students. They explained that the Fyrefly Institute is dedicated to cultivating a welcoming environment for gender diverse and Indigenous ways of being and knowing. One of their programs includes Camp fYrefly, a summer leadership retreat for queer and trans youth happening on campus during the month of July. Other educational programming includes Where The Rivers Meet, the 喵咪社区 GSA conference, Fyrefly in Schools and resource creation such as the You Are Medicine booklet.
The song/dance performances included two drag presentations by Cedar T and two by Pheromone Killz. There was also hoop dancing by Lakota Tootoosis. This performance integrated a formation storytelling dance, which arranges the hoops in unique shapes to represent everyday things, as well as cultural symbolic representations. The figures formed with the hoops can be interpreted in different ways depending on the stories presented by the dancer. For this, the audience and the dancer use their imagination to interpret the hoop formations present in the song.
Inuit throat singing by Ullulaq Porter and Jana Angulalik was also part of the performance. They sang Inuit songs that represent and imitate several sounds, including those of the wind and the mother’s heartbeat that the baby listens to while in the womb.
One of the performances was presented by Kenton Alook, a third-year student in the Faculty of Native Studies, who danced the Red River Jig song, the unofficial anthem of the Métis Nation that is shared with the community to bring people together.
Kenton shares that events like the Two-Spirit Pride celebration are great opportunities for cross-cultural exchange.
“Everyone is welcome to attend and participate in Indigenous events, and to share their cultures and teaching at these celebrations,” Kenton mentioned.
Kenton shares that in terms of cultural exchange, people can sometimes be afraid of the unknown. By participating in a diversity of events where everyone, regardless of group belonging and background, can do what they love and have fun, this can help bridge the gap of differences in practices and lead to deeper intercultural understanding.
“I love to dance, and I’m very proud of my culture. Everyone who watches me dance says they want to join and dance with me.”
Attending this celebration gave me the opportunity to learn about the diverse Indigenous cosmologies and relations, past and present, and how to understand gender and sexual identities as part of kinship. Despite colonial violence and assimilation policies, these kin relationships continue to be reclaimed and celebrated by the community. I appreciated learning about the term ‘Indige-queer-kin,’ which can be understood to reflect the interrelation between Indigenous ways of being and knowing, gender and sexual diversity in Indigenous identities, and the interconnection and relationships of reciprocity between all members of the community.
One of my favourite parts of the event was the performances. Each of the dance and song presentations shared a unique story from the community, carrying with them a history of resilience as well as vibrancy and hope within the community. The embodied narratives of the performances made space for all the Indigenous ways of knowing, being and relating, which honour the past and uphold the relationships that continue to form in present kinship.
Another opportunity to continue learning about Indigenous knowledges, practices, relations and resilience is to take the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Indigenous Canada. This MOOC explores the historical and ongoing experiences of Indigenous peoples and highlights the national and local Indigenous-settler relations from an Indigenous perspective.
Launching in fall 2025, the upcoming MOOC Indigenous Engagement and Partnership Development, offered by the Faculty of Native Studies, will address learners from all levels. This MOOC will offer the opportunity to learn about historical relationships, Indigenous governance and ethical relationship building to engage in respectful collaboration with Indigenous communities.