Ma-Nee Chacaby (born July 22, 1950) is an

Ojibwe The Ojibwe (; Ojibwe writing systems#Ojibwe syllabics, syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the Great Plains, n ...

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

lesbian writer and activist from Canada. She is most noted for her memoir, ''A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder.''

Early years

Born and raised in the remote

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

indigenous community of Ombabika, Chacaby escaped the

Indian residential school system The Canadian Indian residential school system was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous peoples. The network was funded by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs and administered by various Christian churches. The scho ...

only because she was away hunting and trapping with her stepfather when government agents arrived in the community during the

Sixties Scoop The Sixties Scoop (), also known as The Scoop, was a period in which a series of policies were enacted in Canada that enabled child welfare authorities to take, or "scoop up," Indigenous children from their families and communities for placement ...

. She suffered physical and sexual abuse from various adults in her life, and turned to alcoholism in her teen years. At twenty, she escaped an abusive marriage by moving to

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

, Ontario with her children. She also lived in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

. While living in Thunder Bay, she sparked a local controversy when she openly identified herself as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

in a television news story for

Thunder Bay Television Dougall Media is a Canadian media company which has several television, radio and publishing holdings in Northwestern Ontario. Television Dougall Media owns CKPR, a CTV affiliate (formerly a CBC affiliate until August 31, 2014), and CHFD, a G ...

in 1988. She eventually reached sobriety, and worked as a counselor for alcoholics. She remained a local activist on 2SLGBTQ+ and

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

issues, and later began to create and exhibit work as a painter,Anouk Lebel
"Ma-Nee Chacaby : le parcours hors du commun d'une militante autochtone bispirituelle"

Ici Radio-Canada #REDIRECT ICI {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

, August 17, 2019. before writing and publishing ''A Two-Spirit Journey''. She is fluent in both Cree and Ojibwe. In 2013, Chacaby led Thunder Bay's first

pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

Publications

''A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder'' was co-authored by Mary Louisa Plummer and published by the

University of Manitoba Press The University of Manitoba Press (UMP) is an academic publishing house based at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Founded in 1967, the UMP is the first university press in western Canada. Publishing 12 to 14 books a year, UMP is regarded as ...

in 2016.Scott Paradis
"Book chronicles two-spirited elder's struggle and redemption"
'' TB News Watch'', May 21, 2016. It is the 18th title in the Native History Series published by the press. Methodologically, it combines social science and indigenous oral history. The authors conducted over one hundred hours of interviews as part of their writing process, and the book deals with themes of child abuse, alcohol abuse, sexuality, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Critical acclaim

The biography was awarded the U.S. Oral History Association's 2017 Book Award, as well as the Ontario Historical Society's 2018 Alison Prentice Award for Best Book on Women's History in Ontario. In addition, ''A Two-Spirit Journey'' was a shortlisted

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

finalist for Lesbian Memoir/Biography at the

29th Lambda Literary Awards The 29th Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 13, 2017, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2016. The nominees were announced in March 14, and the winners announced at a gala ceremony on Monday evening, June 12, 2017 in New York Ci ...

in 2017, and was shortlisted for the Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher at the 2017 Manitoba Book Awards. In 2019, ''A Two-Spirit Journey'' was published in French as ''Un Parcours Bispirituel'' by Les éditions du remue-ménage. That same year, Chacaby served as one of the grand marshals of the

Fierté Montréal Fierté Montréal, also called Montreal Pride, is an annual LGBT pride festival in Montreal, Quebec. The event was founded in 2007 at the initiative of Montreal’s LGBTQ+ communities after the city's prior Pride festival, Divers/Cité, reposi ...

parade. In 2025, ''A Two-Spirit Journey'' was named as a finalist for ''

Canada Reads ''Canada Reads'' is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC. The program has aired in two distinct editions, the English-language ''Canada Reads'' on CBC Radio One, and the Fre ...

'', where it was advocated by actress and podcaster Shayla Stonechild. It was the winner of the competition."Shayla Stonechild, championing A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby, wins Canada Reads 2025"

CBC Books CBC Arts () is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's diverse artistic communitie ...

, March 20, 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chacaby, Ma-Nee 21st-century First Nations writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women artists Artists from Ontario Canadian women painters First Nations painters Canadian LGBTQ rights activists Canadian LGBTQ painters Lesbian memoirists Lesbian painters LGBTQ First Nations people Living people Ojibwe women writers Ojibwe writers Cree women writers Cree writers Writers from Thunder Bay Two-spirit people 21st-century Canadian memoirists Canadian lesbian writers Canadian lesbian artists Canadian women memoirists 1950 births 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Cree women artists Cree artists Ojibwe women artists Ojibwe artists Non-binary lesbians