Myra Laramee

Dr. Myra Laramee is a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation. She brought the Two-Spirit name to a sharing circle at the 3rd Annual Gathering of Native American Gays and Lesbians. It was received through ceremony and adopted by the community afterwards.

Myra spent over 35 years in education as a teacher, counselor and administrator. Her research is in Indigenous Knowledge and Practices as they relate to teacher education. Her thesis explored the acquisition, utilization, research and writing of Indigenous Knowledge and was titled, Teaching and Learning as an Act of Love: An…

Tuma Young

Tuma T. W. Young was born into the Atu’tuej clan for the Apli’kmuj clan and is a member of the Eskasoni First Nation. He is one of the co-founders of the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance (W2SA) in 2011 alongside John Sylliboy. He is the first Mi’kmaq speaking lawyer in Nova Scotia and also teaches at Cape Breton University as well as running his own private legal practice. He is also on the Executive of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (NSBS).

Tuma has been working to make our L’nuk communities welcoming and to celebrate 2-Spirited people in our communities for many years.

John Sylliboy

John R. Sylliboy is L’nu (Mi’kmaq) from Millbrook First Nations in Nova Scotia and is one of the co-founders of the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance (W2SA) in 2011 alongside Tuma Young. The W2SA helps to build support and awareness of Two-Spirits in Mi’kma’ki and Canada.

He is also a consultant, researcher and policy analyst, for his own company, JRSylliboy Consulting and works in social and cultural development, health and education policy, and research for Atlantic Indigenous communities, especially for Two-Spirits and Indigenous LGBTQ.

Diane Rowe

Diane Rowe is an Anishinaabe two-spirit Judge and is a member of the Micmacs of Gesgapegiag Band, in Gespe’ge’wagi, the seventh district of Mi’kma’ki.

On June 9, 2020, Diane Rowe  was sworn in on the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Before joining the Nova Scotia Department of Justice in 2002, Rowe practiced general civil litigation and acted on behalf of Indian Residential School claimants in several provinces. Rowe also helped to form the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance.

“I think most of us were just excited to be in a room with people who have experienced the same sorts of challenges in our home communities, challenges in the gay…

Angela James

Angela James was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010, becoming the first openly gay player,one of the first women, and only the second black athlete to ever be inducted.

Also known as "the Wayne Gretzky of women's hockey", she amongst many other achievements led the Canadian women’s hockey team to four world championships (1990, 1992, 1994, and 1997).

James has been a dominant force in…

Douglas Stewart

Douglas Stewart is a gay rights activist and was the founding Executive Director of the Black Coalition for AIDS Prevention. He works mainly within Black communities to provide awareness and support to issues around gay rights.

Douglas has worked as an equity trainer, dispute resolution officer and as Chief Human Rights Advisor at Centennial College. He has a long history of commitment to youth development, regularly providing training and organizational development to many youth empowerment agencies such as SERVE! He has also worked with the Toronto District School Board on anti-discrimination initiatives and in alternative school programs…

Courtnay McFarlane

Visual artist, poet and manager of children, youth and adult services at Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Community Health Centre

McFarlane was a founding member of a number of Black queer groups and organizations in the early ’80s and ’90s — such as Zami, Sepia, AYA Men — that provided voice and visibility for Black LGBTQ2 individuals and issues. This activism in many ways laid the foundation for events, organizations and movements addressing Black LGBTQ2 communities today. He has also been on the board of the Toronto Inside Out Film Festival

He is also currently curating an exhibit at Toronto’s BAND Gallery called Legacies in Motion: Black…

Angela Robertson

Angela Robertson is an activist working with black, women’s and LGBTQ communities. She is widely respected and recognized for implementing life-transforming programs for women in Toronto. Angela is currently Executive Director of Queen West - Central Toronto Community Health Centre. She was previously Director of Equity & Community Development at Women’s College Hospital and Executive Director of Sistering – A Woman’s Place which is an organization that offers practical and emotional support to homeless, under-housed and low-income women in the city.

She was an editorial member of ‘Our Lives’, Canada’s first Black Women’s newspaper…

Monica Forrester

Monica Forrester is a Program and Outreach co-ordinator for Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project. Since 1999, she has worked in various agencies to educate and make services accessible for trans* folks. She actively works to promote awareness and visibility of trans women. From living and working on the streets to being  instrumental in creating a drop-in and an outreach program for transpeople at the 519 to her current work as a program coordinator for Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, Forrester has long advocated for transgender people in Toronto. She was also part of advocating for trans women to be allowed into women’s shelters and in…

Nik Redman

Nik Redman is an artist, activist and community worker who was born in Montreal, Canada. Nik grew up in both Barbados and Canada.

He is a member of the GBQ Trans Men’s’ Working Group, part of Ontario Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance; the MaBwana Community Advisory Committee, the Prisoners Justice Action Committee (PJAC) and the Trans Fathers 2B Parenting Course Project Team. Nik was one of the online facilitators for the province-wide HIV/AIDS-themed Stigma campaign. Nik currently works as a Grievance Officer with the University of Toronto’s Local 1998 United Steelworkers Union. In addition, he works doing Anti-Harassment and Human Rights Training for the…

Dionne Brand

Dionne Brand is one of Canada's most renowned, honoured, and bestselling poets, novelist and directors. She won the Governor General's Literary Award for poetry and the Trillium Book Award for her 1997 collection Land to Light On. Her collection thirsty won the 2003 Pat Lowther Award. Her novel What We All Long For won the City of Toronto Book Award in 2006. She won the 2011 Griffin Poetry Prize for Ossuaries.

She was Toronto's Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2012, and in 2017, she was named to the Order of Canada.

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Faith Nolan

Faith Nolan is a singer/songwriter with a deep history of queer, women’s and anti-poverty activism. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, her parents and extended family were coal miners in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia of African, Miqmaq and Irish heritage. She later grew up in Toronto's working-class Cabbagetown. Her commitment to social justice comes from her life experiences and the people she grew up with, and she works through the cultural tool of music. Her music is her political work, a politics firmly rooted in her being working class, a woman, African Canadian and queer.

Faith is the founder and director of three different choirs in Toronto, Singing…