Indigenous Peoples and 2SLGBTQI+ Defence Team Champions Message: Celebrating Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer People

June 20, 2025 - Defence Stories

June is recognized as National Indigenous History Month and the start of Pride Season, which spans from June to September each year. This month, we acknowledge important commemorations for both the Indigenous and Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender-diverse identities (2SLGBTQI+) communities. We celebrate the unique and intersectional identities of Defence Team members, community members, and allies.

This year, we would like to specifically acknowledge and elevate the awareness of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer people.

Since time immemorial, the Indigenous communities of this land we now call Canada have recognized and acknowledged Two-Spirit (2S) and Indigiqueer people and their sacred role in society.  As a small act of acknowledgement of this history, and to prioritize Indigenous voices, the federal government has shifted to lead with 2S and use the preferred acronym of the 2SLGBTQI+ communities in recent years.

Two-Spirit is a term used by some Indigenous people to describe someone who has both masculine and feminine spirits, or whose gender, sexual orientation, or spiritual identity goes beyond the male/female binary. It reflects the connection between Indigenous identity and 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

Indigiqueer is a newer term used by some Indigenous LGBTQI+ people who may not identify as Two-Spirit. It describes the unique experience of being both Indigenous and queer.

We would also like to acknowledge and extend our respect to Indigenous communities that have their own unique terms, other than Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer, which hold their own specific meaning to refer to a person’s role in their culture based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.

As Defence Team Champions for Indigenous Peoples and 2SLGBTQI+ communities, we want to express our deep gratitude to each of you who continue to show up as your authentic selves, and who push the Defence Team to do better—and we commit that we will do better to facilitate inclusion and education around Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer identities for Defence Team members. Your presence, your voices and your testimony remind us of the work still to be done, and we remain committed to learning, unlearning, and taking meaningful action to create safer and more affirming spaces within the Defence Team.

The Defence Team Indigenous Advisory Group (DIAG) and the Defence Team Pride Advisory Organization (DTPAO) are helping the Defence Team achieve these goals through developing policies and programs for a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive organization.

We look forward to continuing important commemorative activities throughout Pride Season, enabling more personalized regional and local activities that are anchored around Pride parades and event activities in each of your communities across Canada and beyond.

As a Defence Team, let’s celebrate the uniqueness and intersectionality of those around us. Together, we are stronger. Together, we are more effective.

Learning Resources:

We are all on a learning journey and as this is the first Defence Team wide message on Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer people, we invite Defence Team members to learn alongside us:

• What is 2SLGBTQI+?
• Gender and Sexual Diversity Glossary - Glossaries and vocabularies - TERMIUM Plus® - Resources of the Language Portal of Canada - Languages - Canadian identity and society - Culture, history and sport - Canada.ca
• Federal 2SLGBTQI+ Action Plan… Building our future, with pride
• Building Bridges: Resources for 2SLGBTQI Intersectionality - Egale Canada
• Two Spirits, One Voice - Egale Canada
• Resource Hub - Indigiqueer Circle of Quebec

Your 2SLGBTQI+ Defence Team Champions
Brigadier-General James Hawthorne and Lara Rooke

And, your Defence Team Champions for Indigenous People,
Lieutenant-General Michael Wright and Peter Hammerschmidt