Fireweed Kinship Society

Our purpose is to support Indigenous Two-Spirit, LGBTQQIA+, or Indigiqueer youth and their kinship relations, building connections to language, culture, ceremony, and land through intergenerational land-based learning and community.

Fireweed Kinship Society supports the work of tapahtêyimôkamik to co-create rites of passage for Indigenous 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth and their kinship relations. We also support okimaw kihêw mêkwanak to create supportive spaces for parents, family, and friends of Indigenous 2S/LGBTQ+ youth.

tapahtêyimôkamik (humble lodge)

tapahtêyimôkamik is focused on co-creating inclusive rites of passage with Indigenous 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth.

We aim to nurture the spirit fire that exists within each of us to learn and embody our kinship roles and responsibilities.

Folks join us at many different life stages, from awâsis (child) to Elder, from being raised in culture to reconnecting for the first time.

We gather monthly to learn the laws of the land through ceremony, language, and land-based learning including Indigenous understandings of diverse sexualities and genders.

okimaw kihêw mêkwanak

okimaw kihêw mêkwanak (OKM) offers a supportive space for parents, family, and friends of 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth who want to practice traditional kinship systems from nêhiyaw and Indigenous worldviews.

OKM was co-founded in 2015 with Roxanne Tootoosis, Lana Whiskeyjack and James Knibb-Lamouche. OKM was formerly known as Indigenous PFLAG or Indigenous Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

OKM's current initiatives include building connections to Indigenous 2S/LGBTQIA+ youth and families and other youth-serving organizations, and developing urban Two-Spirit youth programs.

Activities

nêhiyaw understanding of diverse genders
Feast protocols
Sweat lodges
Naming ceremonies
Walking in beauty
Hide tanning
Moccasin teachings
2-Spirit humour and joy
Tobacco teachings
Natural laws
nêhiyawêwin (Cree language) lessons
Hand games
Dogsledding
Beadwork
Cooking
Self-defence
Storytelling
Exploring wisakacihowin (Trauma) and Indigenous Trauma Informed Practices training
MIndfulness, meditation, and breathing workshop
Outdoor skills
Fire camp
Indigenous 2S neurodiversity circles

Two-Spirit Fast Camp

Our Board

All members of our board are Indigenous and Two-Spirit, Queer, and/or parenting Indigenous 2S/LGBTQIA+ young adults.

Chair

Dr. Lana Whiskeyjack, Saddle Lake Cree Nation

Vice-Chair

Amanda Almond, Métis

Treasurer

James Knibb-Lamouche

Secretary

Persephone Willow

Director-at-Large

sakâw laboucan

Youth Representatives

Beth Whitebear & Ruben Yarn