Student-led campaign at Cambrian College to create awareness and safe space for two-spirit people
By Gurkirat Bal
SUDBURY— When Leisha Neuman cut their hair a couple of years ago, they finally felt normal and realized who they were meant to be.
Neuman, who is two-spirited and refers to themselves in the third person as ‘they/them’, is now using their experience to support other students like them by organizing a two-spirited campaign at Cambrian College.
Neuman, the Indigenous student life coordinator at Cambrian College, says that there are not many support services for people like them on campus.
“There aren’t many services for queer people in general. I tried to create a group for people who are on the gender sexuality spectrum and people who are also allies but it’s really hard to start groups here. It’s a really long process and you almost have to, like, start a business,” Neuman says. “Because if you’re only here for two years then what happens? Who’s going to look after it?”
Neuman is in talks with Howie Mende, the safer spaces coordinator from Reseau Access Network whom they met on Bell Let’s Talk Day on Jan. 29, 2020, to come up with something for two-spirited people.
“We’ve always been here. This isn’t a new term. This isn’t special snowflakes coming up with new ideas. We were here. We were always here. We were here first. It’s not a new concept,” says Neuman.
According to Neuman, when the contact happened with Western countries, two-spirited people were the first to go into hiding and the first to be killed. They had to ‘fake it to make it’, they disappeared from history, and over time, they started to take on colonial beliefs.
“The western beliefs forced them to adhere to specific gender roles, but that’s not how they were originally,” Neuman says.
Neuman is trying to bring awareness through the campaign so that two-spirit people can be welcomed back into the circle. For them, ‘two-spirited’ is an umbrella term that encompasses their identity and spirit.
Neuman organized a two-spirit campaign booth at the enrolment centre on Sept. 12, 2019, and distributed tattoos, stickers, buttons and all of the buttons displayed different genders on them. There were plans to have more campaigns throughout the semester.
Neuman is in the social service worker – Indigenous specialization program and is doing a placement with the Wabnode Centre. Neuman keeps a two-spirit flag outside of their office door so that people can feel comfortable. They want to make the space feel safe and keep it always open.
According to the Canadian Community Health Survey, in 2014, 1.7 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 59 identified as homosexual whereas 1.3 per cent of Canadians in the same age group identified as bisexual.
According to research done in Canada and the U.S from the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health, two-spirited people are more likely to experience mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. As well, they are more inclined to use substances such as drugs and alcohol as coping mechanisms, according to the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health
Research indicates that the suicide risk for two-spirit people is greater than among the heterosexual Indigenous population, reports The National Aboriginal History Organization.
More campaigns were conducted at Cambrian prior to the novel Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) shutdown. On Feb. 12, 2020, the Wabnode Centre handed out miniature red dress pins to bring awareness to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Campaign, also known as the Red Dress Campaign. The campaign is an aesthetic response to the more than 1,000 missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada.
The Moose Hide Campaign was started on Feb. 3, 2020. The grassroots movement asks Indigenous and non-Indigenous men and boys to stand up against violence towards women and children.