Content Notice
This atlas is a living project and remains in progress. Many nodes are currently undergoing review, expansion, or community-led revision.
The atlas contains historical records, publications, photographs, organizational materials, and other sources relating to Two-Spirit histories across Turtle Island. Some language reproduced within these records reflects the terminology, assumptions, and biases of the periods in which they were created. Much of the historical documentation concerning Two-Spirit peoples was produced by settlers, researchers, governments, churches, and other colonial institutions. These records should not be understood as authoritative accounts of Two-Spirit life, identity, or community knowledge.
Users are encouraged to engage with these records critically. Where possible, entries are contextualized and supplemented with community knowledge, but correction, reinterpretation, and re-description remain ongoing responsibilities shared by the community.
Origins of the Atlas
The Two-Spirit Atlas emerged from conversations with Elders, Knowledge Keepers, scholars, and community members reflecting on recordkeeping, memory, and Two-Spirit identity.
Through these dialogues, two interconnected themes surfaced as central to the project:
- Places of gathering, ceremony, and activism
- Memories of Two-Spirit belonging across generations
Purpose of the Atlas
The Two-Spirit Atlas is a public digital archive and mapping project dedicated to documenting Two-Spirit histories, memories, and places of significance. While the atlas includes contemporary contributions, it currently focuses primarily on historical materials, organizations, events, gathering spaces, and community histories that have shaped Two-Spirit life across Turtle Island.
This atlas does not claim ownership over the records it reproduces, nor does it present itself as an authority on Two-Spirit history. Rather, it serves as a space for gathering, contextualizing, and sharing historical materials while creating opportunities for community members to engage with, challenge, and expand existing narratives.
Community members are invited to participate in the stewardship of this work. If you would like to contribute your own stories, memories, photographs, organizations, places, or historical materials, you are welcome to request a contributor profile. Likewise, if you encounter information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or requires additional context, please contact the moderator (andrewj.wiebe@mail.utoronto.ca) to suggest corrections or revisions.
Two-Spirit histories have too often been documented through colonial perspectives. This atlas seeks to create a space where Two-Spirit peoples can engage with those records, correct them, expand them, and write beyond them. The work of remembering, stewarding, and carrying our histories forward belongs to all of us.
Map Legend
Community Memory or Place
Contextual Memory (Historical & Cultural)