Our Coming In Stories: Cree Identity, Body Sovereignty and Gender Self- Determination

Abstract

This presentation will share an understanding of Cree traditional law and discuss its contemporary application in relation to gender and sexual diversity. I will offer a brief history of how the sexuality and bodies of Indigenous, specifically Cree two spirit (LGBTQ) people became regulated through governmental and church policy and discuss how the social movement Idle No More has validated traditional understandings and practices. Through research and examples, personal observations, stories and experiences, the meaning and importance of body sovereignty and gender self-determination and expression will be presented as necessary aspects of undoing systemic forms of oppression and revisioning as a positive ‘coming in’ process.