2026 DEHR Conference

This listening circle offers a 2SLGBTQIA+ affirming space for adults and allies to gather. We share our experiences while building community through both triumphs and challenges. Participation is open and voluntary, no explanations are required. Confidentiality is respected, no attendance is taken, and stories stay in the room while the learning moves forward, even outside of the space we build together.

This workshop is designed for education professionals in rural environments. Join us for a conversation based exploration of rural contexts for allyship, and to develop actionable strategies to support your colleagues outside the urban milieu who identify as 2SLGBTQ+. This learning is grounded in current legislative realities and approached from a strengths based perspective rooted in celebration.

In this deeply relational session, participants are invited to sit in circle, listen with humility and receive the teachings of Elder Laurie McDonald from Enoch Cree Nation. Through story, reflection and lived experience, Elder Laurie will share aspects of his residential school journey, his path of healing, and his proud work supporting Two-Spirit and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
This session is grounded in the understanding that story is not simply something we hear; it is something we are called to witness, honour and carry with care. Elder Laurie’s sharing will offer participants an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the intersections between Indigenous identity, residential school experience, healing, gender, sexuality, belonging and human rights.
Rather than a traditional presentation, this gathering will take the form of a listening circle: a respectful space for presence, learning, truth-telling and reflection. Participants will be invited to slow down, listen deeply and consider how educators, allies and leaders can create schools and communities where Two-Spirit and 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous people are affirmed, protected and celebrated.

Given the current political and social dynamics in Alberta schools, having a unified staff is crucial to building safer and more inclusive school environments. Through roleplaying scenarios, participants will have the opportunity to discuss educator push back and how to leverage support for each other in greater 2SLGBTQ+ allyship. Whether you're comfortable speaking up, sharing your views, or encouraging others to voice their thoughts, this session will focus on relationship building, real life experiences, and skills you can bring directly into your staffroom.

Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and others of diverse gender and sexualities (2SLGBTQIA+) continue to face discrimination in school settings, especially in Catholic schools. Special intolerance toward gender and sexual minority groups in Catholic schools could be due to the church’s decree to “love the sinner, hate the sin,” which is untenable for many Catholic students and teachers. As they struggle with how to respond to 2SLGBTQIA+ people in their schools, Catholic education leaders tend to abandon the tradition of Catholic teaching involving justice for the weakest and turn instead for guidance to the formidable canonical law on the topic of homosexuality and gender identity. In so doing, they also disregard secular human rights legislation in their jurisdictions. How can teachers, students, and policymakers work together to eliminate oppression of gender and sexual minority groups?