Lorraine Grieves
mistotahtahkwanēwak piyēsisiskwéw (big-winged little birdwoman)
Lorraine Grieves (LG) is a Tastawiniyew (in-between person), Two-Spirit, Red River Métis. Adopted at birth and raised by the (English/Scottish) Grieves/Rothnie family, Lorraine grew up on the unceded and ancestral homelands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in Vancouver, British Columbia. A “reconnecting person” with no reliable information about family ancestry in their adoption file, Lorraine has walked a long road over many years, finally finding their birth family, and as a result, learning about their Michif or Métis ancestry.
Lorraine is a registered citizen of the Métis Nation BC, with matrilineal family ties to the historic Red River settlement with Grant, Monroe, Laderoute, Maskegan and Pilon family ties. These Michif ancestors lived, hunted and traded on lands spanning present-day Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba over many generations. They ultimately suffered culture loss, land dispossession and displacement through the Métis scrip system and other colonial measures aimed at weakening Indigenous peoples and gaining control of resources. LG has been blessed to be welcomed by their birth relatives and kin and is continuously learning from Métis community members, elders and knowledge holders including kookums/grandmothers Charlotte Nolin and Barbara Bruce.
Lorraine holds several community responsibilities: as a parent and youth supporter, a registered clinical counsellor, a Two-Spirit community and ceremony family member, and as the Provincial Program Director of Trans Care BC. In this province-wide role, they’ve worked alongside a dedicated team to improve access to health care for trans, Two-Spirit and gender-diverse people across the province of British Columbia, Canada.
With a master’s degree in counselling psychology, Lorraine has worked in mental health and community care since the early 1990s. Their approach is grounded in collaboration, narrative practice, Indigenous and intersectional trans-feminist knowledges, and social justice. They are currently enjoying exploring digital storytelling, song, photography and film as tools for Two-Spirit resurgence, representation and connection.
This video contribution highlights the importance of active response and continued resistance – not reaction – to the rise in transmisogyny, anti-trans and racist hate. Lorraine urges all caring adults, helpers and professionals to recognise how colonial, capitalist and white supremacist systems fuel a sense of overwhelm and can create embodied distress, especially for those under attack by these systems. LG invites us to be accountable and alert to how these forces often replicate themselves and can find their way into our practices within health care and therapy, especially when it comes to transgender and Two-Spirit health care. Lorraine introduces a potential tool and resource, the We Are Allies project, which is a Health Canada–funded initiative that uplifts Two-Spirit, trans and gender-diverse knowledges, teaches about mis- and disinformation, and (re)connects parents, new learners, potential allies and others with liberatory gender histories and information. Through storytelling and history, Lorraine calls for discernment, connection and local practices of care, rest and solidarity in resisting transphobia and fascism.
Key words: trans; gender diversity; gender-affirming care; transphobia; Two-Spirit; Indigenous; Métis; michif; First Nations; decolonizing; fascism; narrative therapy; narrative practice; community healing
Grieves, L. (2025). We have always been here, we’ve been here before: Responding to ongoing anti-trans fascism and colonisation with history, storytelling, and connection to land and community [Video]. International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, (2), https://doi.org/10.4320/SGJB1561
Author pronouns: Flexible
References
Hunt, S. (2016). An introduction to the health of Two-Spirit people: Historical, contemporary and emergent issues. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.
Makokis, J. (2021, August 31). Understanding sexuality and gender from a Nehiyô maskihkiwiyiniw (Plains Cree physician) perspective within Treaty Number Six Territory. News. The Messenger. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta. https://cpsa.ca/news/understanding-sexuality-and-gender-from-a-nehiyo-maskihkiwiyiniw-plains-cree-physician-perspective-within-treaty-number-six-territory/
Provincial Health Services Authority. (2024). We are Allies. https://www.weareallies.ca/
PBS. (2023). A map of gender-diverse cultures. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/content/two-spirits_map-html/
Wilson, A. (2015). Our coming in stories: Cree identity, body sovereignty and gender self-determination. Journal of Global Indigeneity, 1(1), article 4.