Amplify: Elevating the Voices of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer and Gender Diverse Peoples

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Amplify focuses on advancing Indigenous health equity and gender justice across health systems, communities, and policy. Amplify is an Indigenous-led, community-based research project that uplifts the voices, knowledge, and leadership of Indigenous women, Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer, and gender diverse peoples (IW2SIQGD) to support culturally safe, rights-based health care.

Amplify is grounded in Matriarchal and Indigenous gendered frameworks, including Indigenous Gender-Based Analysis Plus (IGBA+). Guided by the principles of Remembering, Rematriation, Reclamation, Respect, Relationship, Recognize Resistance, and Relinquish Power, this approach addresses intersecting inequities in sex, gender, and health while advancing Indigenous self-determination, rematriation, and gender justice.

Findings from Amplify 1.0, including those shared in “Our Bodies Are Sacred”, uplifted the voices and teachings of IW2SIQGD peoples, shaping five interconnected themes for culturally safe care: 1) connecting to ancestral knowledge; 2) cultural safety, humility, and anti-racism; 3) understanding that our bodies, identities, and health are sacred; 4) relationality; and 5) envisioning the future. Together, these teachings emphasize the necessity and value of Indigenous-led health care systems and affirm that Indigenous knowledges and ways of being are the medicine needed to transform health systems.

Amplify 2.0 builds directly on these teachings by returning to the land and traditional BC First Nation artistic practices. Through cedar and wool weaving workshops, the project explores what Indigenous gender equity and justice look like when grounded in land-based wellness, matriarchal knowledge, and intergenerational teachings. Weaving serves as both method and metaphor, bringing together stories, bodies, lands, and futures. Amplify 2.0 will include in-depth interviews, land-based weaving gatherings, and collaborative knowledge-sharing to inform the development of culturally safe clinical guidelines that support IW2SIQGD peoples across the life course, including menstruation, sexual and reproductive health, access to care, and experiences within health systems. This work is explicitly aligned with UNDRIP, the MMIWG2S Calls to Justice, and Indigenous rights-based frameworks. Amplify aims to translate community-held knowledge into clear policy, practice, and systems-level recommendations that advance Indigenous gender justice, uphold Indigenous sovereignty, and honour Indigenous bodies as sacred.

Amplify is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).