Project 450098

The Exploring 9Genders within the lifecycle "We Will Always Love" proposal is in direct alignment with the Indigenous Gender and Wellness Team Grant in its emphasis on generating new knowledge to raise awareness and improve understanding of Indigenous concepts of gender in wellness and healing contexts. Our project activities are designed to support individuals, organizations and communities through events and ceremonies on the land that will improve wellness and support healing among Indigenous communities from gender-diverse perspectives. Our national research team of Indigenous and allied knowledge users, investigators and collaborators unite experience with opportunity for meaningful engagement of those new(er) to research. Together our goal is to examine the concept of 9Genders and the impact of gender on wellness and healing for First Nations, Inuit and Métis (Indigenous) Peoples in Canada. The teaching of 9Genders offers a new way of organizing gender, acknowledging a person's gender as determined by the spirit or spirits they are born into the world with. Expanding upon a one-year development grant (THE NINE GENDERS A Traditionalist way of organizing Indigenous gender, interpreting gender through an Indigenous worldview), the purpose of this community-based participatory project is to connect gender diverse people in examining the 9Genders' role in organizing gender, strengthening wellness and creating opportunities for on-the-land healing through ceremonies in Indigenous communities across Canada. Through the facilitation of sharing circles (Lavallée, 2009), research is woven into the ceremonies, serving to document experiences and insights related to wellness for gender diverse people. These circles will allow people to participate in developing a research question, identifying possible community wellness indicators relevant to 9Genders, and looking at ways we will move forward by exploring the grant objectives and future activities (Lavallée, 2009).