Part 1: Colonial Violence and Intergenerational Trauma Colonization of the land that is currently known as Canada caused immense shifts and ruptures within Indigenous communities. The racism and sexism that colonizers brought with them triggered these shifts (Cannon, 2019) and dramatically impacted ways of living in Indigenous communities. Understandings of gender were profoundly altered through enforced laws and policies that specifically targeted Indigenous notions of gender. State-imposed colonial violence, which entrenched racism and sexism, continues to impact Indigenous peoples today through intergenerational and ongoing trauma. The following section examines the link between patriarchy and colonialism which is vital for framing the issues which Indigenous young men and boys currently face.
Pre-colonial Indigenous Conceptions of Gender Before European contact, gender roles among men and women in Indigenous communities were marked by egalitarian relations, sharing, and cooperation (Cannon, 2019). Men and women occupied different but complementary roles, and Indigenous women’s roles and responsibilities were historically valued in stark contrast to those of Christian European women (Biderman et al, 2021). Matrilineality was also common among many Indigenous communities, as was the notion of gender complementarity, meaning power was shared (Antone, 2015; Tatonetti, 2015). Two-Spirit individuals – individuals who either adopted a different gender presentation other than which was assumed based on their biological sex, or who engaged in sexual relationships with people of the same gender – existed in different Indigenous nations across North America (Lang, 2016). As Leah Sneider noted in speaking from the perspective of pre-colonial gender relations, “Indigenous identity has little to nothing to do with biological sex or associated roles based on systems of power but rather a holistic understanding of presence or being in the world, which is built into ceremonies where men, women, and Two-Spirit people partake in particular roles and activities” (2015, p.67). The respect and normalization of Two-Spirit people within many Indigenous communities is also
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