Albert McLeod

Albert McLeod is a Status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Metis communities of Norway House and Cross Lake in northern Manitoba. His family’s involvement in the Hudson’s Bay Company fur trade began in the early days of European contact and has spanned many generations. Born and raised in the small village of Cormorant, Albert’s family moved to the town of The Pas in 1963 where he lived until he was nineteen. In 1979, Albert moved to Vancouver and joined the Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society (Canada’s first Two-Spirit community organization). Later, in Winnipeg, he was one of the organizers of the Nichiwakan Native Gay Society, (Winnipeg first Two-Spirit community organization) and participated in the first annual international Two-Spirit gathering in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1988. Albert has attended nineteen of the 32 international Two-Spirit gatherings.

He has over thirty years of experience as a human rights activist and is one of the directors of the Two-Spirited People of Manitoba. Albert began his Two-Spirit advocacy in Winnipeg in 1986 and became an HIV/AIDS activist in 1987. He was the director of the Manitoba Aboriginal AIDS Task Force from 1991 to 2001. In 2018, Albert received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg. Albert lives in Winnipeg, where he works as a consultant specializing in Indigenous knowledge, cultural reclamation, and cross-cultural training. www.albertmcleod.com