Ma‐Nee Chacaby is a Two‐Spirit Elder from Thunder Bay, who has been celebrated across Canada and internationally for the poignancy and power of her art, storytelling and activism.

Join Ma‐Nee and Albert McLeod, a Winnipeg‐based Two‐Spirit Elder and trailblazer, in conversation. They’ll discuss their experiences as Two‐Spirit people, overcoming the legacies of colonialism and their tireless work fighting for gender and sexual diversity rights in their communities and beyond.

Elder Ma‐Nee Chacaby

Ma‐Nee Chacaby is a Two‐Spirit Ojibwa‐Cree Elder. She was raised by her Cree grandmother in a remote Ojibwa community near Lake Nipigon, Ontario.

A Two‐Spirit Journey is Ma‐Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa‐Cree lesbian. From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community crushed by poverty and alcoholism, Chacaby’s story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social, economic, and health legacies of colonialism.

Elder Albert McLeod

Albert McLeod is a Status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Métis community of Norway House in northern Manitoba. He has over thirty years of experience as a human rights activist and is one of the directors of 2Spirit Manitoba.

Albert began his Two‐Spirit advocacy in Winnipeg in 1986 and became an HIV/AIDS activist in 1987. He was the director of the Manitoba Aboriginal AIDS Task Force from 1991 to 2001. In 2018, Albert received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg.